Seasons Don't Fear
by necro-wulf
Summary: In the end, every legend is about creation and destruction. It is likewise true, that sooner or later every live is about birth and death. The accounting of death of Naruto, and an exploration of the spiritual in his world. Naru x Saku, My first Fanfic
1. Death and the maiden

Disclaimer: I do not own any characters, locations, techniques or other fictional aspects of the Naruto universe. Any original material will be noted with the translations at the bottom of the page, and are my property. This disclaimer holds true for the entirety of this work of fiction.

Summery: Naruto faces his death. What lies beyond for the Hidden Leaf Village? My first fanfic, but deeper than you may think. Trying to place the Naruto world within the afterlife.

"Normal speech"

_Thoughts/Sound Effects/Emphasis of words_

"_Flashback dialog/Japanese/Emphasis of words (speech)"_

"**Demon speak**"

**_Inner Sakura_**

* * *

Seasons Don't Fear

Chapter One:

Death and the Maiden

* * *

On the day of October 9th in the 17th year following the razing of Konoha no Sato by the nine tailed fox demon, Naruto Uzumaki woke before dawn, left the village under cover of night, and went into the wilderness to face his final end.

As he coursed through the cool fading twilight of the forest, his mind returned to his past. Thinking of those important to him reinforced his resolve against both his and his sinister companion's fear of the oblivion that was to come. They were too precious for him to do anything else.

Iruka came to mind first, because he was the first. Naruto fully realized his life story didn't have any significance until he learned of the terrible weight resting within his belly. When he learned of the horrible truth that had defined his life from the traitorous Mizuki, he stood upon the precipice of despair. He didn't know what he would have become if he had succumbed, but he was positive that only Iruka's faith in his humanity kept him from that dark and lonely path. He started him down this path, which despite everything, has let him maintain his humanity. He would always love his first true teacher for that gift.

Thinking of his possible decent into despair brought his attention to Sabaku no Gaara. He had not been as fortunate as Naruto in those he trusted and loved. He still remembered the deadpan description of the despair which turned a child into a monster that Gaara gave when they were younger, the betrayal by the one person he though cared about him. It destroyed any vestiges of faith in humanity Gaara had left, for himself and everyone else. With no one to reaffirm his humanity, and no rest of any kind due to the nature of his relationship with the Shukaku, Gaara became that which every jinchuuriki fears they may become. Gaara was a shell of sand surrounding the demented mind of his inhuman host, slowly being eroded from within. A jinchuuriki without acknowledgment as a human being, without any support from those around him could easily be twisted thus.

Naruto was truly grateful that he had met Gaara. It showed ho fortunate he had been, and let him appreciate those close to him. More than that, Gaara was a chance to end a cycle of pain and fear much like the one the village nearly trapped him into. The Kazekage's freedom from his beast and returned humanity were comforting. It showed that there was hope, even for the most hopeless of them, that he and his fellow jinchuuriki didn't have to be monsters after all.

Naruto sincerely hopped that what he was doing went according to plan. If all went well, then he would have some measure of vengeance against the Akatsuki. They had robbed his brothers and sisters in suffering of their lives, and though he had taken some of their lives in return, it was not enough. He would see their plots foiled. Their ambitions would be scattered like dust in the wind. They would never complete whatever damned ritual they were using to bind the other bijuu.

The Kyuubi no kitsune would forever be placed beyond their grasp. He had promised that to himself as he saw the old woman give her life to bring animation back to Gaara's corpse. And he never went back on his word. As he rushed to his death he became aware of a grim satisfaction at this decision, a suicidal glee.

"In death I will always be victorious"

* * *

As he approached the point of his rendezvous with destiny he considered why he was allowing himself to die that day. It wasn't a decision he reached lightly. It just seemed that this was the only way. There were too many things on the line which he could keep safe with this final act. He thought of what he was dieing for, who he was dieing for.

With his body cold in the ground the village would be safer. They needed someone like him like a hole in the head. With the Akatsuki crippled with kyuubi's loss it was unlikely they would achieve their megalomaniacal aims. The kyuubi had too much power for them to leave him alone. He was like a lightning rod for those madmen. Naruto didn't know exactly what they intended to use the bijuus' power for, but he was willing to bet not having the strongest of them would hamstring the operation. With him gone the red dawn organization was just a mob of disgruntled freaks with an aggressive corporate strategy instead of a threat of planetary proportions.

What would surprise anyone not there to see the aftermath of his last mission would be that was not all he dreaded he could curse the village with. Naruto Uzumaki, the boy who would be king, now feared above all else what damage he could unleash upon his homeland.

Not the demon. That would be far worse in some terms, but what he really feared was himself.

He was _too powerful._

He was a shinobi born into a generation exceptional in the arts of combat, stealth and intelligence. He was trained by two senseis within a sequence going back to the two founding Hokage of the village. He defeated a being which was effectively a demon to save his village within a year of getting a hitai-ate. He had learned techniques at 13 which most shinobi only hear of in legends and old war stories. He had joined in a battle between the three legendary Sannin and lived to tell of it. He had improved upon a method of destruction devised by a man who was possibly the greatest warrior the elemental nations have ever seen.

His stamina is inhuman.

His chakra is supernatural.

His will is unbreakable.

He was brave, kind, dependable in a pinch and charismatic.

He was what every man on a battlefield wanted to see leading him.

He would be Hokage one day. Believe it.

He was too dangerous to live.

Naruto saw that now. With or without the demon he was the kind of person with the potential to topple nations. The methods of takeover with and without the fox might differ, but to those in power the threat was the same. He was a symbol, something for people wishing for change to rally around. He could rise to power, and then do what he pleased to them. And they thought he was a demon, or close enough. They would be fools to let him win.

He now had no doubt the elders, the statesmen of the village,would never follow him, never let him near the office of Hokage. He could hardly blame them. Too many in the village still saw the demon when they looked at him. He had won over many, but not enough. And certainly not nearly enough of those with political power.

And beyond that, he had finally woken to the political implications of his life after that last battle. It was one of the reasons he had decided upon this course. The fall out was considerable from the disaster he had caused. Treaties were weakened, negotiations had broken down. Ambassadors, damiyo, and kage had been jumping through hoops to get back their lost momentum. He had been forced idle for nearly half a year, at a time when the elemental nations were readying for war. A war that he might, if you look at it with a squint, be partially responsible for.

He finally understood how the council saw him. A problem. Too powerful to discard as a weapon and too well connected to exterminate as a pest, while at the same time too ambitious for his own good and unpredictable as the proverbial loose cannon. There was no place in the military of Konoha that would hold him indefinitely without his being a liability.

But that was not the only reason he was a political danger.

He considered Danzo's vendetta and the schism that would result from ROOT seceding from the village, violently. The civil war would leave them open to attack, and would all but certainly scatter or kill everyone in the village.

And he noticed for the first time the danger Tsunade placed herself in when she sent him on any mission but make-work or showed him any unusual support. She was already making the council regret her appointment on the her radical unionist foreign policies and the expensive reorganization of the standard operating procedures in regular operations. Naruto was just the straw to break the camel's back. Assassinations of kage weren't unknown.

His existence could lead to division of the already weakened village. It was sobering to see the possible fallout his dream. How unfortunate to be 17 and know you have such potential to destroy everything you love.

It almost made holding a demon in your bowels look fun.

* * *

Finally the forest broke and he took a flying leap over the massive gaping chasm below, floating an infinite instant above the distant stone. The wind pushed his loose blond hair off of his forehead. He loved the feeling of flying.

As he dove with the ballistic grace of a falcon dueling a crane, thought of those people his death would affect the most. The people he most wanted to protect with his sacrifice. His team.

Not the new team, piecemeal as it was, hastily put together to support Sakura and himself and check his demon.

The original team 7. The one that was more like a family than anything else.

Much as he hated to admit it, Kakashi would probably take the news of his death as hard as anyone, harder than he should. With how personally he had taken the team's safety and unity from the beginning, it wouldn't be pretty. His reaction to Sasuke's defection had been bad from what Sakura told him of what had happened while he was healing after the fight. Naruto wasn't sure if he wanted to risk his disappearance or death being the last nail in his coffin. But, he just didn't have other workable options anymore.

This was the only way he could still do some good in the coming war that had been left to him. It was the only way he wouldn't become a liability.

Of course he had done what he could to work damage control. Kakashi and Tsunade were the main reasons he had left the note. He was a little worried that one or the other might go over the edge. But, this needed doing, and he would have to trust them to be strong enough to take the loss. He wrote the note to prevent anyone from thinking they drove him to the grave. They probably couldn't see the simple, if costly, elegance of this method. So, he had left a parting message to try and ease the pain, and offer a little hope.

He used his hitai-ate, pinned to the wall of his apartment opposite the door at eye level, with a kunai driven through the center of the leaf symbol spiral. Tied to the ring of the knife hung the necklace of the First Hokage, given to him by Tsunade. Underneath, in large, neat black calligraphy he wrote his epitaph:

**This is no one's fault but mine.**

**It is what must be done.**

**I will protect you with my life.**

**That is my Way of the Ninja.**

Hopefully no one would suffer any permanent damage before the understood why this had to be done.

* * *

Free falling toward the lowest point in the valley's floor not covered by the river, he suffered a sweet sorrow, the same as ever when he considered Sakura. He loved her. More fool he.

He had loved her before he knew what love looked like. He was aware that people cared for each other, if only barely, not having much chance at observation.He was never held, to his knowledge, except when absolutely necessary. Memories of the antiseptic treatment of his early life were one of the main reasons he disliked hospitals.

So until he was permitted to go off on his own, to see other children and their parents, he had never known what he was missing. He was more confused than anything at how much people interacted. Naruto knew only that children with families were always together, always held close, and he was kept apart. When he saw it, and slowly began to understand the connection that those families shared, he began to long for that unknown intimacy.

Until he met Sakura, he had never felt what could honestly be called love. He didn't understand what it was when he wanted to make her happy, despite his earlier attempts at companionship being disastrous. All he knew when he first saw her was that she was different in the most wonderful way possible. He had no idea from what that meant; only that she was. And he wanted more than anything to see her happy.

At all of six years old he had lost his heart to her on the first day of school. Maybe it was that she looked as scared of everybody around her as he felt. Maybe it was because she seemed to get it almost as bad from bullies and snobs as he did (although she certainly got fewer aggressive or blank stares from adults). Maybe he was just attracted to the color pink. All he knew was she was someone important to him, in that solid, stubborn certainty that anyone under ten has perfected. She was even more important than the certainty that getting close to her was going to hurt like hell, one way or another.

When he finally went up to talk to her at recess after half a day of building himself up, he was excited that he might finally get a friend he was slightly…energetic with is greeting. She nearly jumped out of her skin and, while wildly flailing, accidentally (he thinks) smacked him so hard he fell on his butt.

As he had gotten worse from kids before, and with less provocation, he shook off the assault and loudly announced that it didn't matter because he was Naruto and he wanted to be friends.

She called him an idiot, walked away angry and the die was cast. Damn he _hated_ that die But he did kind of like that she could just pop like a balloon, turning from this frightened little thing into what he could still say scared him more than death itself ever had. It showed she wasn't just a nobody, but a somebody waiting to happen.

He never stopped liking her though, that image of a vulnerable little girl stayed with him. When she finally got a friend in Ino he cheered from the nose bleed section so she didn't notice and start actually hating him like everyone else. When she got a crush on Sasuke he grinned (maybe a little too enthusiastically in retrospect) and declared that he liked her. He took that beating just to stay on her damned radar.

Because behind it all, she still remembered their first meeting too. She never forgot that while he was loud and frustrating and an idiot, he was still _a person_. He knew it, because she never treated him like the Village Pariah. She did treat him like a hyperactive freak, but that was at least a start. When kids others were staring at him and wondering why their parents avoided him like a plague, she would treat him like an actual human being, if an annoying one. That matters when your 10 and the number of meals you've had that you didn't cook yourself is directly related to your age and the kindness of a certain vendor. She might never have liked him much before they were on a team together, but she did in a way see _him_ and not just the orphan everyone avoided.

When they finally got to know each other, as teammates first and then casually drifting towards friends, he relaxed a little and she saw that he wasn't as stupid as he acted. He was still hopelessly, unashamedly, suicidally smitten with her. He just eventually learned to bury the impulse to shout it from the rooftops until she got past her image of him as a nothing. He could bide his time a little, there was no real rush. Her matching hopeless crush on Sasuke was never in any better shape than his for her.

It never really mattered that she loved someone else to him either. His feelings for her were singular, untainted, pure. It wasn't that he didn't care. It was that she owned his heart. If she was safe, happy, loved, then Naruto had no use for concern for himself. At her request he would tear it out and serve it to her on a silver platter. There was nothing else for it. Nothing else was important. Especially not today.

The most important thing for this day wasn't that he never got her to believe that he meant it when he used to say he loved her. And it wasn't that she may never realize how much sweet agony being near her for so long gave him.

What was important was the promise. His promise. The promise of a lifetime.

* * *

When his feet touched feather light against the earth from a fall that should have broken his legs, shinobi or no, he thought of the other player in the last scene of his life story. Uchiha Sasuke. The avenger. The traitor. The closest thing he ever had to a brother.

Sasuke would leap at this opportunity. He had always been heading to a suicidal fight with his brother. There was simply too much of a gap between their skill level to fill so quickly. He could not match him without the mangekyo, even with the curse seal fully activated he would be fighting up hill. Naruto hoped this would help level the playing field.

Vengeance done and the avenger victorious, Sasuke would be free. He may well be the monster his brother wished to pervert him to becoming, but that was a calculated risk. This was not murder, it was seppuku. He hoped that Sasuke appreciated the difference.

If the plan held and Sasuke kept his word, then his promise to her would be kept. To achieve it and her- _their_ safety he would forfeit his life. He would break so many other promises to keep those two that mattered most. The dream that kept him alive, the will to show everyone what he could do, would be extinguished. For her.

And for Sasuke.

And everyone else who was depending on him for protection against the forces no mere mortal could defeat which hunted him.

* * *

Dawn came to October 10th, anniversary of the demon fox's sealing and Naruto's birth

Shadows cast by the high walls of the cliff receded, laying the warm countenance of Aurora upon the landscape ruined by two titanic children years before. The Valley of the End. Threshold of the Land of Fire.

A gentle line of instant twilight where light and dark met descended, showing the time and battle worn colossi that frame the river's passage. The valley was forever a place for those holding a last stand. Carved by battle, scarred by battle, almost certain to be destroyed in kind.

Upon the moonscape below, the event horizon past, there stood a single glowing figure facing the dawn. He was at peace. The cracked, cratered, burnt, melted, scoured, powdered, and otherwise decimated terrain was a testament to his fury. He did not speak, or shift his steady posture, and he did not even truly think now that he was finally here. That was a testament to his serenity. With the sun shining on him, almost through him, his eyes closed to the needless destruction around him; he was as grim and composed as an angel of mercy in hell.

He wore orange. If he had a choice he always did. It made him different, special, unique. Anyone could be a ninja in blacks and blues and camouflage, but to be a shinobi wearing bight orange was something else. Only the best could wear a "kill me" orange jumpsuit in an infiltration mission and come back alive. It suited him.

His vest was not a Chunin flack-vest; he had never passed the test and wouldn't really need the protection anyway. It was just an ordinary orange cloth vest made with added pockets for ninja tools. He had the tailors who altered it add a red spiral to the back, strips of navy along the shoulders, and the wooden fetish from his old jumpsuit. He liked the nostalgic look it had. His pants were orange, and tied in the standard way for the ninja tool holsters. He wore a black long sleeved shirt with a stripe of orange along the outside of the sleeve. His hair, iridescent with the dawn's captured glory, fell loose onto his forehead.

He was built solidly but unremarkably, along the lines of a good kunai. He was neither wispy and fast at the expense of strength, nor a dull instrument meant to bludgeon into submission. He was balanced. But even the adaptability of his flesh's utility was misleading. You would underestimate him if you didn't know who he was. He wasn't anyone spectacular until it was too late.

He stood, still as the scarred Goliaths before him waiting for his executioner to arrive.

* * *

Smoke coalesced out of nothing a few meters before Naruto, and in an instant Sasuke was standing where the column had stood, in the shadow of the valley wall. He kept his hand on the Kusanagi thrust unsheathed through the black belt at his hip. He had come wearing the simple garb of any Ninja infiltrating an enemy territory. It was black, tightly wrapped with black cord at wrist and ankle, and loose at the joints. He wore no mask or hood, but beyond that was the consummate shinobi. Once again Naruto both envied and pitied that which he could never have been.

Naruto opened his eyes and his steel blue met his depthless black, for several moments neither spoke.

"Sasuke, you decided to come. At least _someone_ can end off better for today." Naruto started, strong and sad, but with an unaccountable jovial undertone. Gallows humor.

Sasuke responded with a characteristic cryptic grunt, but his eyes narrowed, showing the blond has his attention. His posture was at ease, but his hand never left hilt. It was too good to be true, the chance to gain an edge against his brother so easily offered. Suspicious as the situation was, it was also too good to pass up.

"Like the message said, you can have my life today if you want it. Use my death to do some good and finally take that miserable bastard who calls himself an Uchiha's life from him."

Sasuke maintained his stoic silence, his practiced eyes searching Naruto for deception. He could find none. For an instant he was perplexed, wondering at his former rival's supremely uncharacteristic behavior. Could this be an ambush? Was Naruto trying to return him to the village?

"I only ask that you grant me three conditions, and then I can happily allow myself to fall on your blade."

Sasuke eased the tension in his muscles slightly. Not a trap then, but a bargain. He could understand that. What would be the cost for him to receive his ultimate kekkei genkai? To finally be free of his family's specters whispering for vengeance within his memories of the Tsukuyomi, he would pay any price.

"First," Naruto intoned, forcing himself to hold his emotions at bay. He held his voice as slow, deliberate and steady as the heartbeat of the world. "Once your vengeance is complete and your brother is dead by your hand, I would have you return to Konoha. There you will face whatever justice the village has for you. That promise I hope to still fulfill, even if I die today. Will you agree?"

The black figure, featureless due to the angle of the rising sun, dipped its head to show assent. That was no price at all. He expected as much from Naruto anyway.

"I also want your word that you will never reveal what we do here today." His face, set into a serious expression, softened a little "This is my murder, not yours. I called you here for your sake; I would do this anyway without you. I don't want you judged for my death. But know that if you agree, you must never let it be known that you have the mangekyo. After your brother, you would vow never to use it again, except to keep the third promise I will ask."

This condition warranted more consideration. Having spent the greater portion of his life pursuing power, could he give up this strength so soon after gaining it? _Of course_, the answer came easily on the heels of the question. He would not need it after his lust for vengeance was sated. He grunted a confirmation after a moment.

"Finally, if you are given your freedom in the village, I want you to look after the village for me. I don't want things to fall to pieces after I'm gone." He flashed his usual vulpine grin for an instant, "There may be some things they won't be able to handle. They might need someone like you or me to look after them… _She_ especially might need you. I want you to do this for me. Will you, Teme?" Naruto's voice broke a little as he finished, thinking of those he loved who he would never see again. He closed his eyes and waited for the answer, his head bowing slightly with the weight of his actions.

"Naruto…" The named snapped his head to lock eyes again. "I will." Sasuke finished, kinder than he intended, kinder then he though he was capable of anymore. He had forgotten Naruto could do this to people. He would not forget this time. Someone should remember.

"Good'" Naruto said, gaining his composure again but not managing to sound convincing. "Then we should do this right."

He proceeded to select a flat section of stone among the ruined ground, sinking to his knees when he was satisfied. As he fell, he drew a kunai from his leg sheath and held it with two hands before his navel. He focused all his attention on it.

"So, it's to be hara-kiri then. I am your second?" Sasuke asked, honestly surprised by the gruesome, yet formal seppuku Naruto had chosen.

It was the prostrate blond's turn to wordlessly nod, not taking his eyes from the blade in his hands. Sasuke drew the Kusanagi from his belt as he approached Naruto. He poised the blade above the exposed neck, aligning the slice, and brought the blade over his head with both hands. He would see to it that it was quick.

One final time their eyes met a wealth of meaning in their gaze. The last impression before Naruto broke the contact was that despite everything, he never lost hope for his comrade, and he would have trusted Sasuke to be his kaishakunin over everyone else. No one else deserved to deliver his killing blow.

In the final clarity that had been upon him this mourning, Naruto had decided to make his last words as significant and worthwhile as possible.

"Take care of her"

And he drove the blade home.

* * *

Seppuku/ Hara-kiri: Ritual suicide of the Samurai class of Japan. Believed to be an honorable death when all other options are exhausted. Consists of self disembowelment with a relatively short blade as the primary cause of death. The person killing themselves is sometimes attended by a second. (see below)

Kaishakunin: Second in ritual Seppuku. It is these individuals' duty to remove (and sometimes hide) the head of the one performing the ritual suicide, to prevent the pain from being too intense.

A/N) The first chapter has been heavily edited from the original version first posted in September, but a large amount of the core content and prose are still intact. The changes were mostly additions to strengthen the continuity with later chapters, and grammatical refinements

Edited 1/24/2008 for content and accuracy.

Reedited 2/12/2008 for extended cut


	2. Dance with the devil

"Normal speech"

_Thoughts/Sound Effects/Emphasis of words_

"_Flashback dialogue/Japanese/French/Emphasis of words (speech)"_

"**Demon speak**"

_**Inner Sakura**_

* * *

Seasons Don't Fear

Chapter Two:

Dance with the Devil in the Pale Moonlight

* * *

Naruto drove the blade home.

And hell broke loose.

Kyuubi no Kitsune, most powerful demon in all of the elemental nations, immortal spirit of nature's wrath, and the last tailed demon free of the Akatsuki, was making his last stand.

Unfortunately for him, so was Naruto Uzumaki.

For the better part of two decades a boy and a demon had been trapped in a cold war for their very existences. It had now escalated to an outright battle.

At first the fox, torpid and weak from the spiritual equivalent of bedsores, merely attempted to push his chakra through the bars of his cage. He assumed that his host was merely in battle, and only bothered to take in interest in the human's affairs if there was the chance of either their death or mass carnage. He was disturbed to find that the seal was being _actively_ reinforced by his host's will.

With a potentially fatal stab wound.

The conclusion the ageless vulpine mind reached was not one that agreed with it.

"**Like hell you will!!**

* * *

Outside, a knife buried within his intestines, his hands clenched around the handle, Naruto was putting out the titanic effort to ignore the fact that he had just begun to bleed from a number of vital organs and simultaneously hold back his inner demon. As is easily imaginable, this was not easily done. Even his frankly hyperbolic willpower was gradually waning. He could fee the beast winning, as his control slipped little by little.

"Sasuke. Now. There's not. Much time." Naruto grunted out with each breath against the slicing pain that came with both expansion and contraction. And his control weakened.

Slowly at first, then more and more rapidly yokai began bleeding through the seal and enshrouding the teenage ninja, as light and inconsistent as fire burning spider web. Sasuke, knowing that he had less than seconds, brought the blade down on its terminal path.

A scant instant before the bladewould make contact with Naruto's neck and nick his spine; the blade was reflected by the most delicate yet deliberate flair of vermillion energy from the web covering his body. And before Sasukecould recover from the being unbalanced by recoil and surprise, he was bodily thrown from his feet by a massivefluid swell of burning energy. His body described a backward arc through the air. With his feet overtaking his head at the zenith, he recovered his presence of mind enough to drivehis blade into the bedrock upon landing to ground himself. That probably saved him from being dashed upon the canyon walls.

The flaring energy from the man he meant to kill moments before was still pouring out, now in the shape of a lotus blossom, with a wide spread of burning air spreading along the ground, and ever smaller streams piling upon that, all rising into the sky and defusing at the tips. Closer to the core of this burning blossom, a kneeling figure could be made out, obscured to a blur by a deeper red aura, with a single tail waving in a wind only it noticed. The Uchiha activated his sharingan to better see what was happening to the body within, all unwilling. Eyes burned red and slitted, sharp-clawed hands, growing fangs, a volcanic temper, and the permanent marks of the beast deepening. This was not good.

The animal had rattled the bars of its cage. And the second tail could already be seen drawing substance from the surrounding inferno.

* * *

When he felt his ability to stop the flow of demonic energy fail, Naruto resolved to do the next best thing. Rallying his will, Naruto entered the world within himself for once neither desperate nor afraid.

And far from supplicant.

With yokai still flowing into the avatar of his will within this place, he rushed back along its path, forcing more though than even the Kyuubi had intended. Though he knew the way well by now, and dashed along even the metaphorical waters within the channels, he did not even slow at the doorway to the well of his life force. Instead he crashed through the doors into chamber, crossing the room in barely enough time to even execute his idea to draw a kunai. He darted between the bars, blade ready.

_I'm coming for you, you flea-bitten bastard!_

Even at the cost of his soul, he would finish this day's task. Others had done the same, how could he do less for those he loved.

The fox interrupted his flight with one massivepaw, spiking him to the floor. While the massive animal pounded impossibly quickly to pin Naruto (or at least the resulting paste), his target had formed a rasengan, or its equivalent, and brought it to bear upon his attacker with both hands to defend while still prone upon the floor.

* * *

The valley of the end trembled with the force of the doomsday struggle within the teenager. Naruto's body had rolled limply forward, breathing heavily and digging his claws into the ground as if being pulled at from the heavens. The kunai was pushed gradually out of his abdomen as if drawn from a tight sheath, his blood the blade's oil. As the third tail of the demon fox formed from the crux of the other two and the aura thickened, the would-be tanto clattered upon the ground. The three feral appendages lashed at the earth around the demon vessel, catching the storm winds from the battling souls. Where they smote the earth, it sent up a myriad of shattered stones which the incessant force of the fox's rage threw outward at such speed and force to embed them like shuriken into whatever they should hit.

Sasuke was so consumed by dodging the legion of projectiles generated by the tails' seizures and so slowed by the unending wellspring of opposing force, that he was able to make only slow progress toward his target. _Dammit, I shouldn't have let my guard down. I don't even have enough time to- whoa!_Sasuke began to think, before a shard of granite nearly pierced his temple and he had refocused upon dodging. As it was he had several minor punctures from pebbles and grains of sand even his three tomoe Sharingan couldn't see coming. His deadly Kusanagi was barley useful for deflecting projectiles at this speed and saturation.

For the time being, Naruto was on his own.

* * *

The kyuubi pressed himself against the whirling, slicing maelstrom of energy that was shredding at his right forepawas he used it to drive the mortal into the foundations.

"Damn you, you worthless fox!" Naruto yelled from the indention he was creating under the fox's pressure, "You took every thing from me before I could do a damned thing about it! My family, my life, my future, everything! And now you even want my right to die to protect those precious to me! If you thing I'm going to let you take this last thing from me, your dead wrong! I will keep this promise; I will protect them with my life! This is my life, my body, my soul and you will never beat me! If you think different, then you don't know Naruto Uzumaki!!"

With that he pushed the Rasengan with inhuman strength, driving the behemoth of off him and throwing it like a rag doll into the shadows of the cage. As Naruto pushed his battered form to its feet, his right arm a hanging mangle mass from his last assault, he became conscious of the yokai slowing to a trickle in his material body. Limping toward the edge of the cage and pondering the possible meanings of the demon's defeat proved enough of a distraction for the massive vulpine to inch its bulk silently behind him.

He heard the light sound of padded feet leaving the ground only instants before darkness took him. Naruto had been enveloped by the beast jaws before he could even scream.

* * *

With the demonic winds of fury and the hail of stones abating at last, Sasuke raced the too long gap between where he had been forced back to and his target. He had to end this quickly, and thus flashed through one handed seals with his left while he ran, his sword held back so the point trained on Naruto like a spear. His former team mate looked exhausted, hunched upon hands and knees like a beaten animal. His demonic aura and tails were being slowly diffused to nothingness around him.

_Naruto, whatever you did in there worked. Now I can finish this!_

He was maybe two arm spans and less than a second away, his blade already crackling with the not quite lighting heralded by one thousand birds, when the red flow returned. He barely had time to shift the blade to guard against a stray tail, resurrected, which his momentum didn't give him the opportunity to dodge. As he sailed through the air he struggled to remain calm, and managed to plant his feet upon the stone wall he might have been thrashed against.

"I just have to stay focused. I've driven back the demon before. I just need to meet his eyes." He said out loud, quietly conferring with himself. But, as he saw two tails join their three siblings he was far from convinced. As he pushed off the wall, using chakra to curve his path through the sky, better to catch the possessed boy's eye, one question remained.

_What happened to Naruto in there?_

* * *

Even within the smothering dark of the demon's belly, Naruto could feel the changes racking his flesh. Though blind, some sick gnosisgranted because of or in spite of the demon's will kept him well apprised of his physical form. Muscle and ligament tore from bone. His claws drove into his finger and toe bones, forming wicked calcified boney growths armoring each digit. Burns flowed and pulsed along his shredded flesh only to instantly heal. In their wake, springing up like grasses after a passing wind, patches coarse orange fir. Blood driven through his skin in a thousand orifices splattered against the burning red aura and thus became animate, giving the feral immaterial form more credence.

He could hear the hoarse screams coming from his throat, though he could feel that ruined and healing from the fumes of his own burning tissues.

Unmercifully he was still lucid enough to ask a question. His pain gave it wings beyond even the kyuubi no kitsune's power to control.

"_Am I in Hell?_" He whimpered, and even his agony was momentarily silent.

* * *

Sasukecircumvented the beast, his path dozens of meters above him. He had to catch its eyes. Otherwise he might not be able to stop it. He was convinced that the demon had wrested control of the flesh from Narutocompletely. And he had no idea if he could match the beast's strength, even with only five tails manifesting.

"_Am I in Hell?_" The half canine form cried in a voice smaller than Sasuke had ever heard come from Naruto. Suddenly released from the pain of transformation, he opened his tearing slitted crimson eyes.

Seizing the opportunity, Sasuke changed course and dove to ground. Landing at a distance he hoped would give him enough time to react if things went badly; he crouched down meet Naruto's gaze.

The connection was instant, the doujutsu pulling Sasuke's consciousness into Naruto's soul. A flash of red, the sensations of pain he could scarcely imagine, and a single lucid image was all he caught before being forced out.

The image was of a massive gated set of cage doors. Ajar, they hung off of damaged hinges. The seal that bound the beast was intact but suspended over nothing, sending out electric blue crackling arcs to the doors, which twitched at each pulse in an effort to close themselves again. It looked decidedly hopeless. In the shadows of the cage, narrow glowing eyes stared, unreadable.

"**Narutodoesn't live here anymore.**" It took him a moment to acknowledge that he had indeed heard the chilling, guttural statement in the flesh and not in his mind. The sixth tail, manifest in the scant instants he was within Naruto's mind, only confirmed what he already knew.

Fixing his attention at the whole of Naruto's half furred face again, Sasuke instantly felt the need to ready for an attack. As he activated the cursed seal, felling the bone deep burn of the shifting marks as they ignited his chakraproduction, the possessed boy gained his feet. His face gave no doubt as to who was in control. Naruto could never look so cruel.

"**That's right pretty boy, get all pumped up. You've got all the time in the world.**" The sardonic fox spirit chuckled through his host's mouth. "**We wouldn't want you to drop out of the fight too quickly."**

_How dare he be so calilier?_

"_Prepare to die_!" Temporarily blinded by the rabid aggression and megalomania of the cursed seal, he shushined directly in front of Naruto, and chopped at the crux of his left shoulder and neck and belatedly saw the brashness of the action. As his kusanagientered the realm of the heart and lungs, he became aware that this was a terrible mistake. The demon was smiling. The sharp-toothed grin was an exact copy of Naruto's save for the _hungry_ glint that shown in his eyes and from his fangs.

"**My turn." **Was all Sasuke could make out before he impacted the rock wall. He didn't even see _himself_ flying the few dozens of meters to the wall, skidding upon the river for part of it if his wet cloths where any indication, much less observe the strike.

As he peeled himself from the imprint of his body within the stone, Naruto's commandeered body sauntering towards him, he took stock.

A blow to the sternum.

Several broken ribs.

Probably a concussion.

Who knows how many internal injuries.

He still had bowel control.

He could still feel his legs.

_Okay, I can fight._ Even his inner monologue seemed tired, but he managed to gain his feet and present a fighting stance, careful to control his breathing so he didn't puncture a lung.

"**I know you can do better than that,**" The demon chided, still strolling idly towards him. "**Even this idiot could beat you like this.**" he gestured to himself, then dropped his arm in disgust, "**How about this? I'll give you a free shot; if you can keep your head until I decide it comes off.**" And he held his arms out to his sides, making no effort to defend.

Sasuke gathered his still burning chakraand slid the bladeto a stabbing position with exactitude, prepared to strike. He would thrust the kusanagi into his enemy's heart, then use the chidorisupercharged by the seal to stop it. That should give him a chance for the hormones flooding his system to repair some of the damage and numb the pain from the last exchange.

For the second time that day he rushed at Naruto, bladeready to impale him in a desperate gesture of defiance. Black lightning danced between his bladeand the air, and his eyes drawing the exact position of the heart in his mind. As he drovethe bladeto the hilt into the monster's heart, he redoubled his energy and pushed it through the blade. He felt the slight twang along the blade of Naruto's heartbeat, and felt it seize and stop as the electricity ravaged it.

Not satisfied he jumped away, already drawing deeper from the well of the seal to heal and prepare for whatever came next. Naruto's perverted form still stood. He had expected no less. It shook itself as though to clear its head of cobwebs.

"**Good effort. I dare say you could give that blasted weasel a run for his money with that attack.**" Flames pored from the chest wound, which was rapidly sealing with furred dermis. He gave a devil-may-care lopsided grin. "**Care to try again junior? It's been along time since a human was this much fun for me to fight!"**

_It's good to be the king._

* * *

Finally, after a decade and change (He had no idea exactly how long, kami knew how much time stretched when you were sealed) of incarceration with the only parole in sight being annihilation, he was free. Maybe he didn't have his old colossal body, but he could work on this one a little. Anatomy was largely negotiable in his experience.

But, back to the matter at hand. That simian that was going to give the _coup de grace _to his new body before had to go. He was a damned nuisance. God new he was obsessive enough not to let this go, so best to take him now. If he left the mortal on his own devices for too long he might end up sealed into someone else.

And it wasn't like he couldn't use a little fun while he was at it. He hadn't had anything even _close_to a fair fight since he grew his final tail. The toad and the blonde had sucker punched him, no proper battle at all. This twisted little monkey could be entertaining, with the proper handicap. He would test this body against him.

* * *

_All right, I have to pull out all the stops if I want to survive this._

The seal caught fire, burning as it drew power from his flesh and transformed it into raw chakra. The flame marks danced along his skin as the pyre caught them more fully as well. He could feel the oily, soul deep heat delving into him as the seal shifted his body. His bones drew chakraand fused with it for added density. His muscles drank in the tainted substance and became tighter, stronger, and more reactive. His skin, eyes, and hair changed color; tempered by the corrupting power like fire hardens green wood. He was no longer quite so mortally fragile.

And then the wings pushed out from his back. He had never adequately been able to understand where they came from, especially because his sensation-dead skin felt only the warping as the unaccountable new sinews and bones pushed out of his back from nowhere. But it felt good to have them. No one who had never actually had a pair of wings of their own flesh could truly appreciate the sense of serenity, coupled with the potential for an outpouring of predatory menace they added to every moment.

"**Well, not quite as much a simian as I thought, are you ? Actually, you remind me of an oni that used to date one of my sisters, but then she was bipedal at the time." **He shook his head, and to Sharingan eyes the movement was Naruto by definition.**"Well, fair is fair, if you get to option out of being human then so do I, Oni-san.**"

And he blurred, like rising air in the heat of summer. The garment he wore shredded themselves as if pulled away by thousands of hands. And where in less than the time for even a Henge Jutsu, a fox the size of a pony was looking at Sasuke, lightly glowing red. And the aether shifted, pushed out of the way as a new tail shifted into view, as if an invisibility cloak was twisted off by a squall. And the fox swelled, gradually as rising dough. He fanned his seven elegant tails behind him as he threw his massive vulpine head in exhilaration, roaring to the entire world his return. When he was done, he was the size of an ox cart.

Before his human challenger could properly adjust to his metamorphosis, the fox rushed around him, bringing himself around to the edge of the river. Before he was about to plunge in, he turned on a forepaw, whipping his tails, and sending an impossibly tall wave racing through the standing current and swamping Sasuke, drawing him into the water.

From which he immediately rose, thrusting out of the water with a flap of his wings to stand upon the middle of the river. He met the next wavean instant after he broke the surface. It was too massivefor such a small body of water, to tall for him to leap. He noted that it ran counter to the course of the river, but filled the valley like a damn had broken. Running up the swell of the wavehe set the tip of his bladebelow the surface to feel for any movement, drawing a line of turbulence in his wake. As he reached the crest of the wave, some sixty incongruous feet above the normal flow, he leapt into the air and snapped his wings out to hold his weight. Below, the crashing of the reversed current broke upon the valley floor.

Rising on the thermals created by the demonic apparition below, he spotted the fox charging him from the junction of the two statues, the origin of the tsunami. Sasuke, pin wheeling on the warm rising air, was suddenly acutely aware he had little hope of irritating this beast, much less winning this battle. He would almost certainly die.

So be it. But he was an Avenger. He would not die before his brother without a fight, least of all as close as he was to a new chance to even the score. Forming seals, quickly, he raised a chidorialong his blade. Then though t better of it, and pushed more power into the technique, and drew half the energy to his left hand to form a Raikiri in the most literal sense. Two black cracking blades were in his hands, one free, one focused upon steel.

"Chidori!" He yelled, as he stooped his wings and dove. The fox leapt at him, intent on striking its aerial enemy. Sasuke struck as they met mid air far above the canyon's walls, drawing both blades along either side of the chest toward the lungs as he slipped along the beast's underside. But as he pierced the aura and felt the sternum give, a tearing sensation, a pain beyond any normal human experience ripped at his left shoulder. His wing had been removed by the demonic jaws of the fox. As he tumbled end over end, with his single wing throwing him off balance, he began to black out.

* * *

_100 meters_

_75 meters_

_50…_

_25…_

_10 meters_

_Five… _

_Damn it, he caught himself._

* * *

And the fox descended to finish the job, laughing at his tenacious prey.

Breathing heavily, bleeding from the stump of a wing, and with eyesight gradually returning from the center out, and the seal going into remission, Sasukehung at the bottom of the small gouge his sword had carved when he thrust it into the rock wall, stopping himself with just five meters to being a sticky smear.

Dropping to the ground and forgetting the blade, he brought his right arm up to try to hold the wound. _Damn, I can't fight that monster like this. But I don't have any other options._ The thought was desperate and inevitable once he had challenged the demon. He felt a shadow descend upon him.

He threw himself out of the way, rolling onto his uninjured shoulder, as the demon fell from above, heedless of the force of impact. Ribs and viscera dripped blood from the shredded tears, already half cauterized by the strike that made them. He still held the grey, dactyl wing in his teeth.

"**You're putting up a much better fight than you little friend did. He hit harder, but never got subtle**." He spoke incongruously without moving his jaws, the sinister baritone coming from nothing. "**I think you deserve a reward for the performance you put in." **The edges of the ravines carved into his flesh crept together, then disappeared.** "I'll let you see me at full power before I kill you, so you don't have any regrets about losing. You never really had any chance, you know**." He spit out the wing.

In the ten meter impact crater, the demon began once more to stream power. Sasuke, utterly exhausted, tumbled backwards at the force. Demonic energy burned the rock the fox stood upon, and the sky smelt like lightning. The sky boiled over suddenly with storm clouds, and a deathly silence gripped the land of fire.

A rain so light it became mist before it hit the ground fell, and the fox fanned its tails once again. Light suffused the suspended droplets, glowing eldritch blue from the tips of each of the seven tails, and a ruddy red from the demon's aura. Thunder rumbled overhead. The mists gathered tightly against the vulpine form, obscuring it even from the sharingan Sasuke refused to release.

Lightning struck the cloudbank, and the sharp tang of energy roamed within until resting with its seven brothers. The weather cleared as suddenly as it had stormed, all its power expended. The demon emerged from the mist like a ship at sea as it grew, its eight tails twitching violently, each looking for something to strike at besides the building sized demon itself.

* * *

Naruto felt so warm _(burning)._ It was like dreaming. He couldn't remember anything but this warmth _(why can't I?)_. He was covered in something like thick like mud, which shifted and pulsed with and around his body _(blood)_. Whatever it was it flowed in and out of him in a thousand places, ignoring _(piercing)_ the skin. He was part of this substance, one with it _(subjugated by it)_. Parts of it flowed languid as a forest stream, others moved violently _(fighting)_, rhythmic, shifting back and forth.

He felt next to him _(within him?)_ a great source of heat, like a furnace. He burned if he turned _(could he move?)_ toward it. It was getting hotter now, the energy becoming more intense _(unbearable)_, for the first time _(always)_ unpleasant _(agony)_.

He was comforted _(suffocated)_by the closeness. It felt like love _(rage)_ to him. He had never felt like that before _(Like you know anything about love!)_.It was like his mother's _(monster's)_womb. He just wanted to forget _(Remember, damn it!)_, let go _(No! Hold on!)_, sink into this solitude. _(No, I've already been saved from this hell once! You can't keep me here anymore!)_ Here was the end of his labor _(life)_, ripe for the taking. He would be a fool to pass up this eternal peace_ (I'll fight you to the end of time if I have to! Believe it! You can't beat me! You will not win_!).

* * *

Letting loose more and more energy, turned this time into itself, shaping the final tail from his borrowed body, He lost a measure of control of his host. No matter. He had no hope of salvation as deeply as he had been carried into the demon's very being.

He remembered the last time he gained this last tail. It was centuries ago, but he still remembers it like yesterday. The power, new again after so long gone, pouring from the infinite through him.

He became the avatar of destruction, fury made flesh. Nothing in the world could stop him, then or now.

_(Except for the power of human sacrifice.)_

* * *

Sasuke Uchiha, the man who finally killed Orochimaru of the Sannin, who would be the last Uchiha and their new patriarch, one of the deadliest ninja in the world, knew with no doubt at all that he was dead where he stood.

Gone was his pride, he was numb. Exhaustion and the remission of the cursed seal left him open to the apocalyptic killing intent of the kyuubi no kitsune.

Not that it would have done him much good. He was impotent facing this beast that would have been his best friend. By definition, everyone was.

There was no attack in existence that would more than annoy it. There was little chance of retreat.

With the final tail forming, and the demon growing to proportions nearly incomprehensible, Sasuke could only watch in transfixed horror as his death rapidly approached.

The fox closed his eyes, massive body no longer strained with the effort to force the redevelopment of the ninth and final tail. It was finished, but hung half limp among its energetic brethren.

The bijuu took a deep breath, and the tails calmed. Focus described itself in its features.

And the world dimmed.

Even without training to sense the life force of others you would know that something was happening. Those who could, would feel all of the chakra in the area being pulled into the kyuubi no kitsune.

Animals, plants, rocks, the river, all gave something to this beast.

The statues standing sentinel gavememories, because stone remembers. The gave the titanic massesof granit that rose through magma to be tha bones of continents, dreams of long sleep uncarved and unseen by living eyes in the depths of the land, shadows of who they were carved after so long ago, the battle between the two boys years ago that had marred them. Anything and everything the stones had seen.

The river gavethe taste of the mountains of its headwaters, the forests behind it, and the marshes at its feet. It even gave the small worrying dread of the ocean that consumes it. It bleed into the demon, flowing freely in the knowledge that it was eternal, ever regeneratied by the press of water. It could change and wither and flood, but it was eternal. Or at least it was close enogh that this small tithe could be ignored.

The trees gave the merest fraction of their centuries of life. Freely given, it was a gift to their guardian and destroyer. They knew his true nature, and did not begrudge him.

The animals gave most hesitantly, each losing some of the six billion some odd precious heartbeats each animal was given. They feared this king of beasts, but gave because it was their duty, beyond any opposition.

Sasuke gave without knowing, a tiny fraction of his soul slipped from him to the demon. Half darkened by an unholy taint, half innocent and honorable as the day his family died; it was a soul tempered to great strength, yet great vulnerability. In a word, the soul of an avenger.

_(Sasuke?)_

* * *

In this world, where every life and spirit channeled into a single being, the sun seemed to shine only on Naruto.

And you could see Naruto in that instant. The serene oneness of the fox in that moment allowed the boy the shine through. Startling, the similarities built up upon one another until you wondered how they were missed. His fur wasn't the burnt orange of the demon under the crimson chakra, but the honey gold of a field of wheat at sunset. His brow was the same, giving softness to the demon's features he would never have naturally. The ears weren't the long, almost rabbit-like feral things described in its aura, but stiff, triangular, and a little large for the head, like a desert fox from Kaze no Kuni. Even the rangy limbs of the beast shouted in some indefinable way that they were Naruto.

It took all of a second for Sasuke to see this and take hope as he crouched, leaning upon a boulder for cover some hundred meters away. Then the demon regained himself, and poised to kill his human adversary. This time Sasuke was literally thrust to the ground by the force of his malice.

The demon approached slowly, as if hoping to savor this first death among uncountable others. Sasuke was prostrate upon the ground. He had nothing left.

And he finally came to understand something about Naruto he never truly considered before. He was born into the world and immediately cursed with a demon inside him, waiting for the day its unimaginable fury would again be free. He was hated because of this before he could even speak. He was alone in every way that matters for most of his life. He was in a trial by fire almost from the womb.

Any child who could withstand that for his twelve formative years with no idea as to why with his sanity, would never be normal.

He no longer had the right to weakness the moment he learned of the beast, and turned away from it.

He no longer had the right to be afraid, with this sort of monster waiting to consume his soul.

He no longer had the luxury of being just another face in the crowd. He had to be special, extraordinary, the best. Because if he was anything less he would fail and the beast would consume his soul. And the world as he knew it would end.

Naruto Uzumaki was doomed to be a hero on the day of his birth, and wouldn't have it any other way.

Because he cared about people. He had so much hate and ignorance thrown at him as a child he loved anyone who saw him as something worthwhile with a fierceness that defied reason. If you become precious to him, he will giveanything to protect you. Maybe give everything. And Sasuke wondered who he came here today for. What was so important that Naruto would throw his life, all the promises he made, and any hope of protecting those he cared about away.

_What if he came here for me?_

_What if there is something he needs to die just to protect?_

_What if this is what he was trying to prevent?_

In that instant, that epiphany, Naruto Uzumaki became to Sasuke Uchiha, his greatest rival, what he had been to many before.

A source of strength.

An inspiration.

The spark that ignites the will of fire

His hero.

And Sasuke would not, could not, allow Naruto to fail like this. He would not allow him to be devoured by the demon it was his first and most sacred duty to guard. He would not see him as a soulless force of destruction.

Sasukewould save him at all costs. Naruto would do no less.

Beaten, bloody, edging ever closer to death, he stood. Under the most powerful killing intent in the world he kept his composure. Under a demon's regard he spoke.

"Naruto," he started, speaking clearly and loudly so the beast could hear, "I think I understand why you called me here this mourning, and why you wish to end your life. What I believe is that someone precious to you would be better off with you dead. I don't know, and have no need to. But it is important that this is the path you have chose... or maybe had chosen for you. The path of sacrifice for those you love."

His voice hitched, at this, but after a moment he continued. The demon looked as though he wished to interrupt, to kill him, but was unable to do so. Like he was being held back by something.

"But Naruto, look at yourself. This is not you. This…animal, this demon, will destroy everything, everyone you care about. You have fought him so hard, for so long. Now he has beaten you, when you were closest to defeating him permanently. But even that is not important now. Only one thing is. If we allow this demon out of this valley, it will almost certainly destroy the village. Everyone there will almost certainly die. And worse, those who love you will die knowing that you allowed it to happen. Or else some newborn will have to bear this burden again."

"Naruto, you are stronger than anyone else I've ever known, to hold this back for so long. Stronger than I could ever hope to be. But you need to be strong just once more. For Konohagakure. For everything you ever believed in. For those who believein you. For me." He paused, unsure if even as desperate as he was now, using her name even to save Naruto was wise. "For Sakura."

"Show us how strong you are. Show us how strong we can be too. Because if you can't save yourself, if your own survival doesn't matter, don't let this happen to us. Lend us you strength, your hope. Give us the will of fire that burns within you."

Sasuke got down on his knees, awkwardly due to his injuries. He placed his hands before him on the ground, and pressed his forehead in the dirt. He prostrated himself before both the demon and the boy.

"Please Naruto, save us."

* * *

And Naruto heard him. Devoured by a demon and lost within its soul, he heard. And he found the will to fight his demon.

Not with fists, or chakra, or even a battle of wills.

He merely felt the raging beast within himself and around himself.

He felt the demon, over a thousand years old, capable of destroying nations. And he simply denied it the liberties it had taken.

He took back his mind and left the beast his cage.

He took back his body and the demon flesh collapsed into a skin husk and cinders, leaving him prone in the ashes.

He took back his future, and then gave it up for good.

As the ashes of demon flesh were spread by the wind, Naruto regained his feet shakily. The pelt, shrinking steadily as it lost the energy from the fox, was still large enough to cover him twice over. It looked contained only the thick over fur of the fox, the thinner underbelly already down to nothing.

"I'll be dammed before I commit seppuku in the nude." He said derisive, if exhausted, as he arranged the pelt's head over his right shoulder, its left foreleg over his left, and the rear legs tied together as an improvised kilt. The tails dragged in the dirt.

"Sorry about that, he won't interrupt again." Naruto said tiredly, as he walked toward the river. He stopped only once before the middle of the flowing mass, retrieving the kunai he had plunged into himself earlier from beneath some rubble.

He knelt upon the center of the river, knife ready in both hands.

"I'll return to the village soon" Sasuke said slightly behind him.

"Good. Like I said before they'll need someone to look after them now, someone to keep the monsters at bay," His chuckle was deep and rueful in his chest "Even if he is more than a bit of a monster himself."

"And Sasuke," he caught his rival's eyes over his shoulder, "Thank you, for everything."

For the second time that day Naruto Uzumaki committed hara-kiri. With the demon once again bound he bled freely. His entrails shredded by the twice blooded bladedid not heal, and he slowly died while his comradestood watch, blade once again at the ready. When he thought Narutowould approve, not too early showing a lack of faith nor too late showing disrespect, he ended his best friend's life.

As Sasuke watched the head and body descend into the abyss below a though occurred to him. They should not find the body, here or anywhere else. They should have hope.

"Amaterasu" he called softly, not yet full believing that he had the ability. But the midnight flames arced from his mouth to the sinking body and head, trailing a ribbon of bubbles as it heated water to steam, slowly moving downriver.

As his eyes focused upon his reflection in the surface he saw his Mangekyo eyes. The tomoe had sharpened into thin crescents, and stretched so that they went from the edge of his iris to around the center point of the eye, almost touching in the center. He no longer had his normal human pupil, the center having filmed over with the iris' bright red, but as he could now see things _sharper_ than ever before, he didn't worry about it. The over all affect, he thought, was that everything he saw was focused into that on center point of red nothingness, that they were being absorbed. Even compared to his brother's these eyes seemed powerful.

As he left along the river to avoid leaving any traces pursuers could follow possible, the crescents within his eyes idly chased one another around their nexus; he replayed the cataclysmic events of the mourning over again in his mind.

_Did I really face down a demon and give it a_ speech He though which a stifled laugh. _Naruto must have rubbed off on me._For some reason that didn't bother Sasuke as much as he thought it should have.

He decided he would keep his promises to Naruto. He would face the consequences of his defection to Orochimaru and the Sound village. He would act in his teammate's stead as guardian of the village, even to his own death. He would never let it be known how Narutodied, because he didn't deserveto be seen as a suicide in the end. And Sasuke would fulfill the promise that Naruto made to the girl he had loved until death.

But first he had to avenge his clan upon his brother. Funny, after so long a hunt suddenly that didn't seem like the burden it had before. Seeing what he had seen today, and knowing what he now did about Naruto's life, the howling ghosts of his kin no longer seemed as important or as close.

He would still kill his brother; nothing in the world would stop that, but his reasons had changed. He no longer felt the irresistible compulsion to destroy Itachi. Instead, he felt that he was simply too malicious to be allowed to live; and that it was his task to restore the Uchihas to what they were before his holocaust, human beings instead of madmen and monsters.

He supposed this new way of seeing things was Naruto's fault. He could accept that, he was the only person to have met the spastic blonde until now and come away without an epiphany, so he supposed was due. He was thankful, even, that the knot of hate wasn't choking his heart anymore.

So, yes he would keep his promises. Because Naruto had given his life to Sasuke so that he would finally havepeace. And who knew who else he was trying to save. How could Sasuke spit in the face of a person with as much power as he had seen today, and instead chose to a destiny of hardship and sacrifice for those he cared about.

Naruto deserved better than that. Sasuke would see that he got it, this last time at least. Because Sasuke Uchiha never thought of himself first, never allowed his mind to overrule what his heart knows is right, and never went back on his word. Because now, that was his nindo too.

Believe it.

* * *

Okay, first off, thank you to my reviewers, some of the comments really helped, keep them coming.

Second, did you really think that the kyuubi would go down without a fight? I mean, that is the perfect excuse for an all out brawl between Naruto and his inner demon. And I wanted to see Sasuke's arrogant ass get owned (not literally, sicko). Tell me what you think of the fight, I'm worried about my abilities in that area.

Also, next chapter we get into exposition land, but I'm hoping some re writes will make it bearable


	3. Bleeding Through

There are no words for the concepts we are working with. That is the ultimate truth. The only truth. Religion as a system has forgotten the stories that were their foundations, and have become obsessed with the vestments. The primal core the truths represent have been relocated and ignored. Christ, Buddha, and anyone else who have truly seen the face of god have been misquoted, supplanted, distorted. The challenge is not to look upon the shining face of deity that stares terrible and majestic upon you, but to even find much less see the hidden face of god, where paradoxes meet. Good and evil, yin and yang, dark and light; they may appear as opposites, but in reality they are the same. This basic seemingly immutable division is only the first and last of those that hold existence from the void. God alone sees things as they are, all one, even creation and negation. But it is the responsibility, nay the instinct, nay the purpose of all life to ultimately strive for this point of enlightened, penultimate, perfection. To be one and many, God and his worshiper simultaneously. We have forgotten. There are no words.

--Originally submitted as a review to the fanfiction Bleeding Through by Mattk after the submission of the initial opening of this story.

* * *

In the end, every story is a love story. The unity of all things is represented in every marriage ceremony in the world, from tribal custom to high ceremony. It is likewise true, that sooner or later life is all about sex and death. Life and Death. Oblivion isn't an end any more than conception a beginning.

--Revised summery for this story, composed at the completion of the above

A/N: Sorry to anyone reading about A) the major delays and B) the cop out interlude. If you know what the hell I am talking about it makes sense... but you have to see it from the end. If I do my job, then an entusiastic post-conclusion reread will have you smiling and nodding. As to the delay... well, I had a ton of research to dofor the future, layout work, characters to nail down, (there will be some new ones, and some that I've adapted) and abilites to understand. I'm trying to use as much of the afterlife in the traditions relating to buddism as I can, but Jainism is just confusing to me still. Beyond that, I have major issues woth finding the time to type.

All that said, I have material for the next chapter, and will ave it out ASAP.

Reposting to fix the title of the story for the above review, add the author and include the where-the-hell-I've-been report, on the off chance anyone cared.

Peace. Out.


	4. Preludes and Nocturnes, Delight

"Normal speech"

_Thoughts/Sound Effects/Emphasis of words_

MECHANIZED COMMUNICATIONS

_MECHANIZED__ TECHNIQUES _

"_Flashback dialogue/Japanese/French/Emphasis of words (speech)"_

"**Demon speak**"

**_Inner Sakura_**

* * *

Seasons Don't Fear

Chapter Three:

Preludes and Nocturnes; Delirium and Delight

* * *

_Six months preceeding the Konoha's seventeenth annual fox festival..._

Strength. Authority. Permanence.

The castles of the world are designed to project these ideas into those that view them as much as they are made to withstand sieges and anchor the rule of law. But in this world, it was an illusion easily dispelled. Despite its imposing battlements and full compliment of guards it was still quite vulnerable to those most deadly of weapons: shinobi.

One of their tools even now was in position, hovering hundreds of meters above the courtyard below, waiting for the moon to reach its zenith to begin the assault. Its appearance was unique in the entire world, (though in a world dominated by craftsman and artisans this, in of itself was fairly common) and it was a revolution in weapon design. The main of its volume was occupied by a spinning 1.5 meter rotary fan (heavily adapted from designs used for desk implements), which had been encircled with a donut-shaped bulkhead of curved plate metal. Below the ring structure, were mounted three lens-eyed, streamlined, and roughly cylindrical cameras trained upon the keep below.

* * *

SPECTRUM ISOLATION COMMENCING…

* * *

Flipping through a number of filters to remove or amplify specific ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum in a pattern dictated by a complex algorithm based upon the statistical probabilities of circumstances that could be found in the field, eventually it hit upon the correct combination for its aims. Miles away, an unattended scying device displayed a series of blue-white smudges overlaid over the dulled image of the fortress.

* * *

ISOLATION COMPLETE

TARGET SEARCH COMMENCING…

* * *

The cameras swung wildly around within the outer limits of the building, piercing walls and floors as their host sought its aim. As one camera fell upon one room containing two bright burning embers, and a single white spark, the other two immediately trained upon the triad.

* * *

VERIFYING TARGET…

* * *

The three mechanical gazes focused more perfectly upon the figures, and detail erupted from obscurity. Now within the far-removed monitor shown three wireframe human forms, light bleeding from the frames to allude to the surrounding flesh. One figure was masculine, both in form and eye-searing intensity, with a peculiar vortex of red light within his sea of chakra. Another was feminine and somehow very deliberate in its alignment, showing a glowing structure of great strength despite its limited resources. The last, also female, was dull and indistinct compared to its companions. It was prone upon the ground in a relaxed position, and flanked on both sides by its more intense attendants.

Removing a filter and shifting several flexible internal lenses, the mechanized eyes took in the dark hair and soft features of the aristocratic young woman asleep on her mat.

* * *

TARGET VERIFIED

BEGINNING PRIMARY ASSUALT PREPERATIONS…

* * *

From within the ring of steel and aluminum a sheet of sturdy woven paper fastened to a cast ring rotated down on a curved gimble arm, and came to a rest only as it reached a position horizontal to the ground directly below the center spoke of the spinning fan. Two additional curved arms extended to brace the ring like an inverted tripod, and as the parts locked into position, a slight azure glow suffused the paper. Or more specifically, the sigil painted upon it.

* * *

INITIATING MACHINE SUMMONING _TENCHU NO YA_ …

* * *

And beneath the machine formed a cloud of smoke, quick dispersed by the downdraft of the fan. What was shown to be concealed was an arrangement of copper tubing and steel bulbs arrayed around a central, and highly aggressive tube, all mounted upon a swivel which had affixed itself neatly upon the metal ring which formerly mounted the now missing paper.

* * *

TRIANGULATING TARGET…

* * *

The cameras, through internal gear mechanisms, relayed data about their relative latitude, longitude, and elevation to establish their line of sight on the target. That, along with distance calculations crunched by a gearbox from the lens-focusing mechanism gave the exact position of the target relative to the silently hovering automaton. The hanging assembly swiveled deftly to bring itself to bear upon the middle figure.

* * *

ADJUSTING FOR WINDSHEAR…

* * *

A slight adjustment to the left, to counteract the land breeze that was unlikely to let up until mourning, according to the projected meteorological data.

* * *

CALLIBRATING FOR DISTANCE…

* * *

A slight twitch upward, followed by a huffing sound that continued for several seconds as the hanging weapon slowly drew in air.

* * *

ADJUSTING FOR OBSTACLES…

* * *

The cameras flashed through settings, shifting through layers of architecture, noting materials and volumes of all pertinent obstacles. The huffing sound continued, as the mechanism tuned itself to produce the desired effect, followed by a series of clicks when it was satisfied.

* * *

CHECKING SETTINGS…

COMMENCING PRIMARY ASSULT

* * *

_pfft, pfft, pfft, pfft_

From the flechette gun four darts accelerated in quick succession, each one optimized to breach a different material.

Tile, wood, paper, and finally flesh were pierced by the needles as they rode each other's tails to deliver the final dart and its venomous payload. However, the final dart wasn't embedded within the target's heart. Instead her masculine bodyguard had intercepted it with his palm a scant instant before impact. All at once, the castle's lazily patrolling guards were swarming like ants in a disturbed colony.

* * *

PRIMARY ASSULT…UNSUCCESSFUL

COMMENCING SECOUNDARY ASSULT

* * *

The firing mechanism unlocked itself from the mounting ring and dropped like a stone, an internal device igniting it once clear of the parent craft. As the ring and three arms receded into the torus shaped body, a ring of steel raised itself from its recess atop the donut shape's highest point. Armor plates slid around the axis of the fan on the outer wall of the machine, exposing three seals etched into the thinner metal underplating beneath. The fine lines of the carvings began to glow from within, as the machine cycled up for its next directive.

* * *

INITIATING MACHINE SUMMONING_SANSORA _…

* * *

Three figures emerged from the resulting smoke, clutching the raised bar and feet planted on the plating that had summoned it (now bearing scorches obscuring the etchings). The flying ring, over its approved weight for this altitude, plummeted toward the ground.

"Damn! Sakura, that burns like hell!" The half-matured teenager complained to the girl bent over his hand. He didn't pull his hand away though, or even allow it to twitch, he wasn't _that _dumb.

"Of coarse it does Naruto, I'm incinerating the poison in your blood stream before it spreads." Sakura retorted, exasperated by his attitude. _First he complains that nothings happening, the little jinx. Now…_

"I still think we should find whoever threw those." Naruto said sullenly.

"We can't." Sakura replied, more than a little condescending, "We have the backup of a team of chunin so that they could do the leg work and we don't leave the client exposed."

_I wish he would focus more in briefings, _she though, _I'm always the one who has to retell him everything five times._

**_We should smack some sense into his lazy ass!_** Sakura's more… passionate side advocated a policy of tough love, especially when annoyed.

_Naruto's not that bad, just…a little inattentive._One Sakura didn't always agree with, fortunately for Naruto.

_**He does this every time! It's as annoying as all hell! He needs to learn a little respect.**_Inner Sakura pressed.

_This is why I don't let you out anymore._Sakura sighed mentally.

_**Because I'm honest?**_

_Because you're a sociopath!_Sakura wailed within her mind, in a way not dissimilar to the one she was shouting down.

_**Tomae-to, Tomaa-to **_

"Sakura-chan, you okay?" Naruto asked, slightly concerned by the unaccountable shifting of emotions he had seen on her face. Well, that and the fact that she had drifted off in the middle of the medical procedure she was performing on him.

"Fine, just having a little argument with myself" she replied sheepishly.

"Been there," he replied with a sagely nod, eyes squinting. "Umm… Can I have my hand back now?" He asked after a moment.

"Oh, sorry. Yeah, we're done." Sakura blushed a little, more at the oversight than the contact.

"Anyway, as we _are_ here to see that no harm come to princess here," she said, continuing her explanation of why they had to stay with the client, "As a sign of good faith from the village to _Ta no Kuni_. Her father is a diplomat currently at the summit negotiations to sanction multinational war on the Akatsuki."

"I got all that, by why do we have to play babysitter to some spoiled daddy's girl? We could do more good out there if there's trouble" Naruto retorted, showing an ever increasing presence of mind that still caught Sakura off guard.

"Because, Naruto, we have next to no experience in defense of a fortified position, but no one in the village can even touch our track record against the Akatsuki. Our techniques cause a lot of collateral damage. If we were out there against a full frontal assault, we would likely win." Seeing her teammate's victorious grin she continued, lest he get a swelled head, "But we would probably trash the castle walls in the process. If, and I hope they don't, but if someone manages to get past the chunin and the regular guards, we're the last, best line of defense hime here's got. We're insurance."

Naruto screwed up his face, balancing the boredom and importance of their position, while tossing in the lives of their compatriots through some complex moral arithmetic.

"That's cool," he reluctantly allowed " just wish this job wasn't so dull, that's all." After a moment's though he amended, "Except for the whole dart-through-the-hand thing."

Suddenly, there was a crashing noise from the adjoining hallway, and a slight perfume of blood.

"Wish granted." The pink hair kunoichi deadpanned, with inner Sakura adding a venomous- **_Idiot_** –to the end.

* * *

The light form the windows near the ceiling in the hallway provide enough illumination to show the lumbering shape in the hall against the paper interior-dividing wall. Though indistinct, as though the edges were softened by smoke, it was easy to determine his position. And ready an attack.

"Sakura," Naruto whispered to his teammate, who was closer to the door. A rasengan was gathering in his hands. "Human Arrow."

She acknowledged him with a nod and cupped her hands and dropped to a knee as silently as possible, silently cursing that they had never gotten around to practicing hand signs. The next instant, Naruto was hurtling through two walls, (one paper and one plaster, stone and concrete) with the intruder in tow. A ball of swirling destruction held in front of him one handed.

"There may be others. Stay inside until one of us comes to get you." Sakura told their now _very_awake client from where she was just about to join the melee. Looking at Naruto where he had fallen in the courtyard below, she added, "Or until he demolishes the building, whichever comes first."

And then she descended to the plain of combat.

* * *

Naruto and his opponent squared off among the detritus they had ripped from the fortress wall on the way out. The anonymous assassin's form was squat and wide, but blurry and indistinct even in the open air of the courtyard. It seemed little more than a clustering of smoke and shadow. Or would have, if the leaf nin hadn't already hit him on the way out. As it was the figure was so blurry it took all of Naruto's squinty-eyed concentration to make out that it was holding some sort of weapon in his hands. Just what was impossible to tell. Naruto belatedly wished he had spent some more time training to counter genjutsu.

As the attacker made a massive but nearly indistinguishable downward strike, Naruto rolled to the right and threw a punch to what he hoped were the back of his opponent's knees while in the process of regaining his feet. Scoring enough of a hit to push his attacker off balance enough to drive whatever he was holding in his hand into the ground to keep his feet, Naruto leapt slightly back and prepared to press his advantage.

Only to feel about 95 pounds sideswipe him at 20 mph before he got the chance. After a moment, he realized it was Sakura, pushing him out of the way as a plum of painfully white fire burst from where he had been standing half a second before, catching the smoky figure in the blast radius.

"Where is he?" Naruto asked his floral teammate as they got their feet back under them.

"Southern wall, battlements." She replied, quickly moving to cover his blind spot. "He's using some sort of incendiary launcher, not Ninjutsu."

"_Really?_" He asked with interest. Then, flashing a cocky smile over his shoulder, "So who do you want to take, Sakura-chan?"

"I'll handle the first one. He seems more my style." She replied airily, "You can have the fire bug." She smiled back wickedly, "Have fun, Naruto."

_Well, at least now I can see him._ She thought derisively, counting her every blessing as her partner ran with all hast to the other assissin.

* * *

Whatever had caused that fireball managed to negate the cloaking technique her opponent was using. Probably because it had incinerated his (literal) cloak. His armored form was now covered with a ruined patina of fabric that looked like scorched _nothing_, for lack of a better metaphor. Which was quickly and violently removed, as it was doing no good ruined as it was.

Thick overlapping plate armor covered the warrior; his head was covered with a featureless helm bereft of any holes for sight or ventilation. His arms and legs were disproportionably short for his torso, which was that of a sturdy man who might stand at seven feet, while the limbs brought him at least a foot and a half less. But they were well developed, their short length belied by girth appropriate to the body's frame and likely immensely strong.

There seemed to be a direct effort to compensate for the decreased reach too, as his weapon was on a scale with those of the seven swordsmen of the mist. It was a two meter length of steel shaped like a staff and just as regular. It was honed to a blade on both sides, if the moonlight angling off it was an indication, and had no hilt or grip at all. Instead it was sharpened to a point on both ends.

_This isn't going to be easy, is it?_ She sighed to herself.

Her armor-laden opponent tore the last shreds of his mantle away as she made her assessment, and thrust himself and his massive blade aggressively forward. Covering the intervening distance at a pace decidedly unlikely with his too-short legs, he flourished the blade into an overhead slash that had it connected, would have cleanly bisected the girl. As it was, a moment before impact, she deflected the blade with the flat of her right hand. The blade dug into the packed earth if the courtyard and stuck there.

Using the twist the deflection had given her body, Sakura followed through with a right kick to his armored ribs, causing a depression and a network of fractures over the adjoining plates as the force of impact was amplified beyond her mere muscular strength.

_So the armor is some kind of ceramic,_Sakura thought she watched her opponent twist sideways with the force of her counterstrike, wrenching his blade from the ground and tumbling several meters. _I can use that to my advantage._

Pouncing on her unguarded adversary as he uneasily regained his feet, she drove her fists into his armor in a barrage of rapid, punishing blows. When she finally withdrew it was only to ensure that her brutal yet surgically precise work was properly done. As he recovered himself and again began to rise, it became evident that the joints of his ceramic-slab armor had been pulverized, shards of the formerly protective covering driven inward. He was paralyzed by the stabbing and seizing of the fragments of armor.

"Gotcha" Sakura said, justifiably proud of the improvised tactics. **_We have to tell Naruto about this one, he always gets the cool moves. He'll be jealous as hell!_**Inner Sakura commented, an idea with some merit for once.

But not content to rest on her laurels, Sakura pressed her advantage, ready to finish the fight, and then move to assist Naruto.

_Where to hit?_ She wondered, quickly bringing up and dismissing options on how to disable but not kill an armored opponent. _Head? No, couldn't question him with a caved skull, and I'm not sure I could knock him out in that armor without enhancement. Heart? Still too risky. Arms and legs weren't sure to take him out of the fight. That leaves the internal organs. I have to precise, too other wise I might drive shards too deep to keep him alive until there's a chance to question him. Oh, well, nothing for it. _Her decision rendered, Sakura closed for a final assault.

Only to stop short, not quite sure why. When she tried to decipher what her instincts had perceived, her eyes were drawn to the locked joints. That weren't anymore.

In fact, all of the damage she had wrought to the squat, kneeling armored form was receding. Hairline fractures crept back towards their sources. Shards buried in joints crumbled to powder that sifted to damaged areas, filling gaps. Impact craters of shattered armor shifted and fused an ended like new. All of Sakura's punishment appeared to never have happened, and he seemed harmed not at all within.

And he was ready to counter attack.

"Wonderful." The kunoichi gripped, drawing a kunai, as once again the night went from bad to worse.

* * *

Facing the defensive wall across the courtyard Sakura had indicated, Naruto was off even before he located the assailant. Catching sight of him after a few strides and taking his bearings on the fly, he crossed the two leading fingers of each of his hands.

_Got to get in close and keep the pressure on. Otherwise, he'll hit Sakura's flanks while she's busy with his partner._

Billowing smoke obscured the courtyard surrounding Naruto, and two wings of doppelgangers emerged in nigh unto uncountable numbers. The main force raced along his previous course, straight on, ignoring the huge holes in their formations being caused by gouts of piercingly white flame. This suicidal direct assault was thankfully only a cover drawing attention from the smaller corps running a flanking maneuver behind the enemy, moving quickly and scaling the walls under the dissipating cloud left over from the clones' formation. With any kind of good fortune at all, they would be able to get safely inside the range of he flame weapon before the wielder could incinerate the original Naruto in their midst.

Unfortunately, until then the courtyard was a shadow clone shooting range. With the destructive power of he weapon and the tight formation of the clones, the devastating area attack was demolishing the replications faster then Naruto would have liked. The thinned ranks did offer enough cover for _some_ of the clones to make it to short range to engage the target more effectively, but not as many as he would have expected considering the legion he had created. But at least he had enough to gage his opponent before having to commit himself.

As he approached his enemy and sent the so far unnoticed flanking group to assist the main assault team that had escorted him, Naruto got a chance to get his first good look at him. If it _was_a him. It was honestly difficult to tell. The figure was definitely slight and would have been decidedly feminine if not for the decided lack of any curvature whatsoever. Its body was bound from head to tow in wide overlapping bands of leather that contoured to its genderless frame in a way that reminded him of terrain maps he had seen. The stiletto thin arms and legs rapidly darted through the air, shifting its body to almost dance around the relatively clumsy blows being launched by the survivors of the main assault and just as gracefully responding with straight-digited spearing strikes that would easily kill a normal man. The head was wound similarly with leather strips, which seemed to conceal a visor if the errant shine coming from the gap in the wrappings was nay indicator.

But all this was only a side note, only gathered due to years of practice observing combatants, next to the device it was wielding. The piece of equipment, which was unlikely to loose the attention of anyone not trained to see beyond the obvious, was strapped to the only diagonal strip of leather, which was a five inch wide bandoleer hanging from right shoulder to left hip. The steel contraption was fully as long as one of the figures legs, and almost as thick. Resembling nothing he had ever seen so much as it did the heavy cast iron siege cannons he had seen in passing once in Konoha's armory, but obviously much thinner walled. And, if the glinting moonlight was any indication, intricately carved finish work adorned the outside of the barrel. It was held to its harness when the svelte figure drew it by a flexible metal arm running over its master's shoulder to a joint on its top. It seemed to also have two handles; a vertical one affixed to the rear of the barrel, and a horizontal grip halfway upon the left side. Despite facing multiple opponents, the weapon's wielder held it in a ready position with his left had while the other three limbs seemed impeded not at all by the change in balance its significant weight must bring.

_Dammit, _Naruto thought watching the lithe figure rapidly dispatch Naruto's support troops, _he's faster than me. A lot faster. And that weapon is nothing to ignore either. I have to take him by surprise and make every hit count. If I don't take him out hard and fast he might be able to slip away and blast me while I'm still swinging away._

Naruto entered the melee as the last clone was dispelled by a straight-armed chop to the neck enough force behind it to crack the collarbone and constrict the jugular and windpipe. _Those_were sensations Naruto could have lived happily without knowing. Using the dispersal cloud to hide his final approach, Naruto responded with a blow to crack bone delivered to the cannoneer's chest, pushing him back through the air atop the walkway on the wall for several meters. The slim gunner flew back to the ground in a normal parabola, but then seemed to gather leverage from nowhere and hefted his trailing legs up in the and over for a 270 degree flip that actually gained altitude, then planted himself in a dead stand that showed no sign of being perturbed by the physically impossible feat which it had just performed.

"Well, that was freaky" Naruto muttered as he leaped to get inside of the big weapon's range before it could fire. Inside he was more shaken. _I may not have the __sharingan, but even I could see that he didn't move a single muscle in that flip_. _Who the hell is this guy? _Naruto thought heatedly.

His first follow-up punch, a left that he aimed at his opponent's face, was effortlessly ducked. The next strike, a right past the weapon to the chest was evade with a hard roll to the left, which brought the still extended barrel to bear upon Naruto's flank. Silently berating himself in the instant before the incendiary caused him to momentarily lose all sense of self, he snuffed out the embers of magnesium white fire with a pulse of chakra as he rose to a fighting position.

Now at mid-range due to the force of the blast throwing both of the combatants, they likewise altered tactics. Naruto drew a kunai after a moment of rummaging in his leg holster, during which he was scanning the tough leather armor for any weak points to take advantage of. Meanwhile, his opponent flipped his phallic monstrosity of a weapon over his shoulder and likewise formed up; poised to attack with arms ramrod straight at a shallow angle to the torso.

Manically grinning at his opponent Naruto, in his most mocking trickster mode, gave the only precursor to the next scrimmage:

"You know, if you worked toward a definite gender, that thing strapped to your back might actually make you seem _dangerous_, instead of just creepy."

* * *

Ta no Kuni- land of rice (why they're there will be explained later)

Mechanized Summoning- A summoning technique performed by channeling chakra from a non-living container through a prepared seal with the intent of summoning a person, object or summoned beast

Tenchu no Ya- Literally: arrow of heaven's wrath (as close as I could translate) Contextually: a mechanized summoning performed that calls forth a dart gun turrent. Requires a significant support structure from the summons source in order to fire, as the weapon is automated, but without sensory equipment. The weapon is capable of fireing several types of darts, including those that shatter as they pierce, allowing for penetration of several darts in series to deliver a deadly projectile to a target which has sought cover.

Sansora- Literally: three skies Contextually: a mechanised summons that calls forth three(spoiler!) pre-selected combatants in a single operation, usually used in rapid assult/assasination missions.

Hime- Princess (literally, I believe it means the daughter of a noble lineage)

A/N: Again, sorry for the delay. This is really only the first part of a whole series of sections detailing the events leading to, and directly from Naruto's self sacrifice. Initially I was going to make them all into one chapter titled Preludes and Nocturnesafter the first installment of the Sandman graphic series by Neil Gaiman (it totally fits, wait for it), but the length got away from me. Unfortunately, a lot of the work I did was necessary to explain the changes I've made from canon material to the world and characters. And the fights I can't just seem to get to flow if I cut them down. Anyway, that said, I decided to release what was supposed to be chapter three in seven smaller chapters under the arc title to Preludes and Nocturnes. Major props if you can guess where the individual chapter titles are from.

On the chapter itself, I am a little nervous about the dialog. The whole Naru/Saku vibe is tough to get right. (Especially since I've never seen the inside of a Naruto manga for close-to-pure inspiration.) I'm concerned about whether I got her right. Naruto is easy, every fan fiction has a version and between them and the anime I have a handle on him. Sakura has always been a point of contention in fanfic and as a result, the interpretations are majorly all over the place. I'm trying for an affectionately bossy big sister kind of thing, like she doesn't think Naruto could take care of himself (which he probably couldn't if we're all really honest), partially because I can relate to the corrective impulse, and partially because that's how they react to one another in my experience.

Tell me what you think. And expect the updates to be coming just a tad faster as the chapters are already written and just need to be typed. (Don't expect too much, they're still pretty long and I don't get much opportunity to type)


	5. Perludes and Nocturnes, Dream

"Normal speech"

_Thoughts/Sound Effects/Emphasis of words_

MECHANIZED COMMUNICATIONS

_MECHANIZED TECHNIQUES _

"_Flashback dialog/Japanese/French/Emphasis of words (speech)"_

"**Demon speak**"

_**Inner Sakura**_

* * *

Seasons Don't Fear

Chapter Four:

Preludes and Nocturnes; Dream

* * *

_And Naruto was worried this assignment was going to be dull!_ Sakura thought as she retreated from the first strike in the next flurry of blows her hulking opponent levied against her. Somehow, the irony failed to amuse her.

The clumsy but enthusiastic diagonal slash was easily avoided as she withdrew quickly beyond the blade's range, which caused the weapon to once again embed itself into the hard-packed clay-like earth of the courtyard.

_Honestly, this guy's fighting style is as subtle as a Jiraiya at a slumber party! _Sakura thought with irritation at the amateur abilities of her opponent. _Why even bother with the sword? The way he swings it, it may as well be a board with a nail in it. _

The following stroke was a direct inversion of the last motion that was really just wrenching the blade out of the ground coupled with a step forward to aim it towards her. Sakura parried just before it could dig into her left shoulder by the kunai held in her right hand in a reversed grip she had come to favor for knife work.

Using chakra to keep her footing against the greater mass of the larger blade and that of the swordsman behind it, Sakura idly wished not for the first time that she had but in the basic weight and endurance training most taijutsu users needed. Tsunade's techniques were an end run around physical limitations; they required only the knowledge of the forms and the ability to release waves of chakra in precise timing with the moment of impact. The results spoke for themselves, and obviously surpassed human physical limits on muscular strength.

But the downside was that for all her power, she still _massed_ the same as a normal teenage girl, if a fit one. In addition, her endurance in both chakra and physical ability was still lacking because between her medical training, missions, working at the hospital and drilling with what she already knew so she was combat ready, there weren't enough hours for the physical basics and still have time for enough rest to stave off chronic exhaustion. The strain on her body had she tried would have been worse than not training at all.

So Sakura was forced to merely stop her opponent as her pressed her, divided as her efforts were between holding her ground and his blade, instead of driving him back with the ease of her inhuman strength's limits. Large as he was, he was still stronger then he looked.

After a moment, when she managed to get proper leverage so the motion wouldn't cause her to loose his blade, she slid her left arm across her body to the kunai holster on her right leg and drew another knife. Holding it in the same grip as its partner, she drove it into the unguarded chest a few inches in front of her own and then pulled with all the force she could muster, scoring a savage slash that scoured deep in the armor. Though didn't penetrate, the attack did give the swordsman reason to stay out of close range. He quickly disengaged with a jump back covered by a dismissive sweep of his sword.

Sakura followed through with the slash's momentum, stepping forward in a twisting motion that had her back turned half the time. Not that it mattered. Her kunai were grating against the larger weapon; the left on the reversed position, the right in the forward, each describing a spiral pattern that advanced quickly forward. After a few slashes had been deflected by the over-sized blade she slowed to a stop and ended the fruitless tactic.

The swordsman responded to the kunoichi ending her assault by releasing one hand from the blade to strike her solidly with a closed fist in the jaw. As she staggered back, stunned, he gripped the blades in a classic swordsman's stance, with a third of the blade held under the gripping hands. Sakura, anticipating another powerful yet clumsy overhand strike, took a step into a fighting stance, primed to guard with the leading blade while the trailing could be used to strike once his weapon was engaged.

Only to be forced to cross he blades to intercept the rising slash delivered by the lower tip of the blade as she was occupied with the upper. Keeping her arms locked against the jarring impact lest the blade slice her in half up the middle, Sakura was surprised by the strength of the swing; indeed, it was slowly lifting her feet from the ground as it continued inexorably upward, trying to cut into her but succeeding instead of slowly taking her weight off her feet as she held her arms and crossed knives rigid between her thighs. Marshalling his strength, all at once her massive attacker delivered a massive heave upward sending her airborne.

Unbalanced, she flew through the air in an ungraceful motion and barely managed to roll on her hip at impact to prevent a fracture from the awkward, limbless landing. Coming to rest in a low kneeling crouch, she was faced with her opponent charging her. His legs were blurring with motion and the staccato rhythm of his footstep coupled with the lance-like spearing position of his blade brought her to mind of a cavalry charge. It looked as though he intended to impale her through her torso and out her back, pinning her to the ground like a butterfly in a collector's case.

_But cavalry has never been really effective against shinobi._ She though, waiting for her armored enemy to commit himself to a killing thrust, (a pause that descended into a crouch unleashing a downward spearing motion, probably to get more accuracy and power behind the tip) before leaping back past his range and waiting for him to again drive his blade into the ground with his clumsy motion. _Their tactics always depend on the high ground and mobility. And neither they nor he really measure up where it counts._

Sakura was surprised then as the tip of his weapon changed coarse, somehow still traveling at the downward angle its user's arm followed, while _simultaneously_ shooting strait at her, forcing her to jerk sideways or get skewered. As it was she got a shallow scratch on her ribcage; nothing threatening, but a definite wake up call.

_What the hell was that? Genjutsu, like before?_

Tuning her senses to see if she was being manipulated showed her the cause of her near miss. His arms… they had extended.

Before almost dwarfish in proportion, now the true purpose of their deformity became clear. They were mechanical… or at least mostly so. The armor, tightly overlapping on the shortened members now had considerable space between the plates. Enough space to see the brass framework that held the armor over a thick screw mechanism inside of the forearms and upper arms that filled all of the volume under the armor instead of flesh. The hands, elbows, and shoulders appeared normal, but that could be deceptive. Through some artifice, his limbs had been replaced with these mechanisms, as she now noted, were his legs. Now at last he stood at the imposing two meters and change that his twisted proportions would have demanded in their foreshortened position.

Their short length in the retracted position was to cause misjudgment in an enemy, or as a setup to a surprise driving thrust. Both tactics that had almost cost her dearly for being unprepared. Sakura had seen more extensive body modifications before, (Sasori came to mind) but the complexity and strength of the mechanisms was definitely considerable.

"Maybe you _are_ a shinobi after all." She idly mused to herself on the deception as the next attack came on.

As he drew back the blade, attempting to slice her along the way with a tip of the blade to the side that she easily sidestepped, she ran through her alternatives, finally coming to a decision. As he tried a backhand for decapitation, she ducked slightly and stepped inside the sweep of the blade, to try to disarm the brute from the inside out. Coming to stand just behind his right shoulder, (his sword arm) she promptly kicked out her right leg, hobbling him and forcing him to kneel as the blow struck behind his knee. stepping backward to grab his arm as it flung forward in an attempt to catch himself, she obliged by providing balance. Wrapping her right arm around his as he fell to her eye level, she drove the kunai she held in a reverse grip into his shoulder, seizing the apparently mechanical joint and providing a point of leverage for her next maneuver. Now next to the behemoth, facing directly the opposite direction he was, she flipped the other knife in her left hand and used it to reinforce the jam she had caused by using it like its partner.

"You've already shown me that your armor can repair itself." She stated, almost conversationally, making contact with one narrowed jade eye over their shoulders. "I wonder if the same is true of all the clockwork in your arms?"

With that she flexed her arm. With her elbow pointed perpendicular to her captive's and her arm trapping his that meant his arm bent too, just not in the direction its designer intended. First the elements in the elbow blew out, cracking as iron, aluminum, bronze and brass shattered, impacted, bent and fused under the pressure. After the joint had jammed into itself to the point that it had more structural strength than the straight length of the arms, those began to warp as well. As Sakura strained to twist the arms enough that they would be inoperable, the other arm had begun beating at her, trying to stop her from doing more damage. The tiles that made up its armor dug into her and shattered violently, as did some of the smaller components of the mechanism, but all that did was annoy the girl even more. But persist she did, not stopping the inexorable wrecking yard contraction of her arm until she was damn sure the limb she had was uselessly twisted.

Then the bubble gum haired teen pulled out her knifes, waggled the arm she had twisted into a ruin to disarm it, disengaged her arm and planted a sidekick that could shatter concrete into his ribs. He went skipping bonelessly along the ground before coming to rest on his belly. Sakura was on him before he could use his three functional limbs to lift himself, shattering the ceramics protecting his back with a double fisted blow to his spine.

After her prey was down she began tearing into him, crushing plated and tossing the shard out of the way like a jungle cat tearing through a turtle's shell to get at the succulence inside. And for much the same reason.

She wanted satisfaction dammit! She'd had to dance around with this punk for too long while getting more and more frustrated by all his damn sloppy, amateur, gimmicky fighting. She wanted to shuck him like the lobster special and show him how a real shinobi fights, make him think twice before trying something like this. Then she'd find out anything he might know about the Akatsuki.

If she didn't decide to execute him on the spot. She'd play it by ear.

Only once she had shattered and scattered the armor covering him, what she saw just made her angrier. There was no one in the armor! It was hollow inside except for some bits of esoteric electronic equipment, a tempered steel reservoir in the torso that stored chakra is the slight aura it emitted meant anything, and multi-metallic skeleton that held everything together. Still, she still cracked open the helm like a walnut to confirm what she already knew. The soulless (and probably sightless and superfluous if the lack of eye holes meant anything) eyes she had expected stared out at her. It was a puppet.

Inner Sakura was incensed. **You have got to be kidding me! All that for just one flipping puppet! That's it, I'm going to rip whoever was working this thing a new one!**

_Only if I don't get him first. _Sakura agreed, trying to mollify her shadow, if only so she cold hear herself think._ But who the hell was working it?_

Looking around for a vantage point from which a puppeteer could have operated, she eventually saw Naruto, still on the ramparts of he defensive wall. He was currently engaging two opponents; the one she had seen earlier, and another that _defiantly_ didn't look human.

_I should get over there and help Naruto. But first…_ looking down at the exposed workings of the puppet, she decided to disable it with minimal damage, the better for research. So she only ripped out its spine before moving to assist her teammate.

* * *

Sirens blared miles away as the monitoring device tuned to observe the battle received the damage report forwarded by the flying drone from the puppet flashed across the screen.

CRITICAL DAMAGE DETECTED: SANSORA01(TSUKIKEN)

One of the machines' number had fallen. And their master was to be informed.

* * *

As Sakura enaged in deadly combat in the courtyard, Naruto was up on the defensive battlements struggling just to survive.

_Left_

_Right_

_Sidestep_

_Duck_

_Twist_

_Jump!_

Naruto was desperately contorting himself on the suddenly much too narrow walkway, dodging the vaporal blades his opponent was sending cresting towards him through the air every half second or so.

Apparently, whoever this guy (girl?) was, he knew a futon technique that allowed him to send the air disturbances caused by his arms as wind blades of the same size. Now he was using it in conjunction of a goofy windmilling motion that reminded Naruto of the flexibility exercises from when he was six to launch a legion of blades at him. With the leather armored ninja madly spinning his arms at the shoulder at directly opposite positions, an arm reached the twelve o'clock position every second, sending out a scything wind as it did.

_I can't keep this up!_ Naruto thought as he felt fatigue catching up to him after several minuets of unsuccessfully trying to gain while dodging. _It's only a matter of time until he manages to hit me._ _I have to stop the jutsu if I'm going to have a chance._

Thinking fast, Naruto readied a kunai and waited for the right moment. On the next attack he pulled some wire from his pouch and fastened it to the ring with one hand and his teeth as he evaded with a leap to one side, careful to make it look like he was guarding his eyes from debris. As he ducked another he surreptitiously wrapped the exploding note he held in his other hand around the hilt within a two handed slash that would have achieved nothing but a shift in balance to avoid the following blade aimed to sever his arm. With a spinning sidestepping around a last shock wave, he let fly with the throwing knife aimed dead center in the figure's glass visor.

As it flew through the air its lazy corkscrew motion further scarring the wooden floor they stood on as the blond ninja transformed its natural slipstream into a cutting edge with elemental chakra. It dispelled the wind-blade attacks that crashed into it, its spinning motion deflecting their force.

But that didn't prevent it from being caught. The three leading fingers of the right hand had stopped the blade before impact, and were angled properly so that the air disturbed by its passage through the atmosphere was unable to slice the leather clad androgyny. He showed his contempt by snapping his arm, driving the kunai into the deck behind him with a dull _thunk_, before reaching to draw his cannon from his back Apparently in the dark he hadn't noticed the fine wire Naruto had used fastened to the ring.

_Perfect._

"Hey! Pinwheel!" He called drawing attention from the knife as his attack took affect. He held up the length of wire so that the ambient light would reflect into his opponent's eyes. As he saw the wire, the gunner waved his arm to sever it mostly on principle. But the gesture was too late.

"Boom" Teh blond's grin was as wide and mirthless as a shark's

As the concussion threw the thin figure towards him, Naruto crossed his fingers and created a handful of clones, which he sent to restrain the gunner. No point in giving him a chance to counter, after all. With a clone on each arm and another anchoring his ankles, even someone with his dexterity was not getting away easily. All while Naruto held back with another clone, deep in concentration as he slowly gathering his finishing technique:

Fuuton: Rasenshuriken

Reaching some critical point in the formation of the highly volatile energy weapon, he accelerated to a run within a few strides. Making good use of the mobility afforded him by having been able to remove one of the cumbersome clones needed to perform the technique, he closed the distance quickly, unmindful of the copy flanking him close enough that their legs could easily tangle.

Cocking his arm when the unstable wind blades began to jet out from the core of the technique and forcibly dispelled the clone, he leapt above his transfixed foe and naturally struck a pose as he fell. The attack held high over one shoulder; his body twisted like the rope coils at the heart of a catapult; his leading leg bent at the knee and out of the way while the other trailed behind like the tail feathers of a stooping bird of prey; he was the image of an epic hero, about to vent his bile in a way that couldn't help but bring to mind the word "smite".

At least, until the rain of stainless steel needles descended from behind and above him, somewhere in the watchtower affixed to the castle walls.

* * *

Perched upon the tiled pagoda roof of the tower crouched a dully gleaming metal gargoyle. As Naruto fell upon the raised walkway below its bulbous steel carapace slid along its back to rest upon its squat, toad-like haunches, shifting the remaining needles so they reversed angle in their slots in the shell, and eased from their forward attack positions. The retreating armor plate revealed a short but sinuous neck and wide, eyeless reptilian head dominated by jaws of over sized steel fangs. Bringing its sightless gaze to the disabled teen below, it rose from its awkward position half hanging over empty space by virtue of its massive claws embedded within the roof's structural members. As the teen below managed to gain his own quadruped position on his hands and knees with his head hanging weakly, it observed in ways beyond the human condition, its head cocked like an interested bird.

"Ya know," Naruto shouted as best he could between wheezing breaths that may well have indicated major damage to his lungs, " I've been made into a human pin cushion before, but at least the last guy could aim worth a damn."

He brought up his gaze up and had the monster vision it may well have quailed in fear at what it saw, soulless machine or not. Naruto gave his attacker a good look at his trademarked shit eating grin before a blast of smoke revealed a rolled up tatami mat beset by needles.

With a sweeping motion of its head and neck the reptilian puppet scanned the courtyard and walls looking for its target. With every completed sweep it would readjust its forelimb's grip upon the roof's edge, supplying itself with an ever-increasing number of alternate angles. The silence at that altitude only enhanced the sense of trepidation the automaton's neurotic search for its hidden enemy. But persist it did in its mindless behavior, like a dog more frightened of his master than the man trying to harm it.

As it set itself upon the upturned corner of the roof in its mindless observation of its surroundings, the metal beast was torn from its perch by an explosion of orange-clad ninja from below. Splinters and shattered slate accompanied Naruto as he shot through the roof like a loosed arrow. He came feet first with straight legs right impacting right in the gut of the beast. His feet gripping the oddly concave underbelly with a little chakra, Naruto planted an arm on the side and used his weight to turn the monster over as their momentum ran out and their ascension turned into a fall. The claws of the beast raked at him mercilessly as they fell, but they were not meant to strike so close to the abdomen and weren't able to score more than a few scratches. Naruto held onto that upturned shell until they re-impacted the walkway where he had been fighting, with the needles embedding into the wood deep enough to transfix the machine in its stranded tortoise pose.

Quickly disregarding the disabled enemy, Naruto leapt off as soon as he was sure it was trapped to reengage his previous opponent. The genderless figure had in the meantime destroyed the clones restraining one arm and its legs and was even now dispensing with the last. Which was why when Naruto rebounded up into a rising uppercut from his dismounting leap he was met with the ready barrel of the weapon on his back.

The blast of albino flame sent him flying right back over the trapped puppet and skimming upon the walkway before he slammed into the wall of the tower, buckling the plaster used to facade the wall in a crater spider webbed with fractures. The weapon's wielder followed at a deliberate pace, unconcerned by the possibility of recovery as he stepped over his struggling upturned comrade. The cannoneer lowered the tip of his weapon as behind him the upended quadruped jettisoned its quills with a sound like a blowgun and a shutter before rolling backwards and regaining its feet.

_I may not have seen this coming,_ Naruto thought, grinning through bloodied lips as he stared up the muzzle of the weapon. _But the don't call me Konoha's number one most surprising ninja for nothing._

Naruto, being Naruto, hadn't planned any specifics for how to deal with the incendiary wielding assassin until he absolutely needed to. Instead he had employed his usual fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants style of combat, consisting of tried and true techniques and wholly unexpected new tactics. Tactics like the kunai with the explosive note and the "fuse" wire to set it off.

The same wire that he now held in his hand.

The same wire he had used to remove the knife from the wooden plank it was embedded in with enough force to end over into a flight straight towards the wall behind him.

The same wire he was now using as a channel for his wind techniques, turning it into the leading edge of an unstoppable cutting force that was its own slipstream.

By the time the knife had passed into the gunner's field of vision, the trailing wire had already cut its way through his left shoulder with frictionless ease. Once the knife embedded itself into the wall, Naruto pushed himself to his feet and whipped the wire around, forcing his dismembered foe back or face decapitation.

Drawing in some of the wires unruly length, Naruto left enough loose that he could swing it freely before cutting the rest with the kunai and proceeding to do just that. Spinning it at his side in a showy but easily maintained circuit, he was sure to get a feeling for the weapon before he pressed too much. If he wasn't careful with a weapon with wind chakra at close range he could end up missing some of his favorite body parts. He had had to work with wind chakra and a focus before, (a weapon only half mastered is a danger to everyone, even he knew that) but not nearly enough for this sort of thing to be part of his usual haphazard array of techniques. Best to ere on the side of caution, then. Once his trained instincts had given him the basics of how it would behave in the air, he moved forward, ready to use the added range to his advantage.

Falling behind the sightless gargoyle, the cannoneer seemed unconcerned by him, sparing not a glance as he commenced to tinker with the now defunct left-side handle awkwardly with his remaining arm. The shelled combatant had responded to its new position by sliding his shell forward, as rows of needles that had replaced the ones it had launched to release itself were leveled on the blond. All at once it launched its imposing wall of spikes. As the myriad needles flew through the air; sometimes three or four from the same oblong slot in the otherwise featureless shell; they curved through the air and towards their intended target. But Naruto was not overcome by the river of piercing metal that unnaturally curved and maneuvered to strike at him, instead he used the kunai and line to defend himself, deflecting some needles but mostly shaving them layer by layer into harmless hardened steel chips as it spun before him.

The shell reiterated once more, this time revealing a new weapon as it left the sightless metal skull exposed. Arcing electricity danced along the concave belly under the shell and out onto the barracuda fangs within the gaping jaws. Before Naruto could react and discard the yard of metal he was wielding, it had become a lightning rod that channeled the shocking force down his arm and through his body even as his air chakra as disrupted. As his convulsions caused him to loose the weapon in an interesting but useless display of wire dynamics, his legs gave out with the uncontrollable seizures brought on by the electricity. He lay there, ozone wafting off of him as it ionized from his flesh and clothing, in a daze as he waited for the fatal blow.

* * *

(The following is a technical note for the purposes of explaining the physics of the Rasengan and its derivatives. Read or ignore at you leisure.

_It should be noted that this task, performed as it was by Naruto and his clone, was at a level of mastery without peer. No one was ever as good with the Rasengan as he was, period. Not Jiraiya. Not the Yodaime Hokage. He was it. Only he could even begin to use the wind release variations, and he needed help from his clones._

_This was because the Rasengan was such a difficult technique to master. The first stage is simple enough; all you do is pour chakra into a balloon, then use it to spin the water until it pops. Naruto, instead of learning the control needed to do this strait, had instead decided to generate the necessary turbulence with his unused hand as an expedient, moving it rapidly and randomly around the outside to generate turbulence. And it worked._

_The second step was to ramp up the power until you could pop a rubber ball. This requires you concentrate to the point of nearly shredding you chakra coils until you become properly conditioned, and with Naruto's control was all but impossible. By concentrating all of the energy his body could muster upon a single point in his palm, he was ably to get the proper concentration of chakra within the spiral to burst the ball. If used on someone, this would cause middling serious surface damage but nothing that would cripple or kill._

_The third and final step required the creation of a sphere of chakra to contain the turbulent spinning force of the attack. This he did by using his own hand to stabilize the energy, and the clone's two to push it to speed and contain it. When you slammed this completed Rasengan it into someone, their organs got feng shui'd and they were hurled through the air as all the kinetic energy of the spiral was released inside of the body. It was almost always a knock out punch, if not fatal. And that was in a nutshell, the Rasengan as Naruto learned it._

_But the technique got exponentially harder from there as you tried to add an elemental affinity._

_First, of coarse, you actually had to be able to use the nameless, instinctive jutsu that don't require hand seals. Techniques that were never farther away than the earth, air, or water, or else could be generated from the user's body directly. Learning to use his air affinity was a major pain in the ass, simply because he had never done a jutsu higher than academy level stuff without hand seals except for the kage bushin. That and the fact that he never knew that he had an elemental affinity before._

_Wind wasn't an easy one either. Of all the elemental affinities it was the only one to require such a high level of technical skill. It broke down like this: most elemental techniques were either an ignition of a natural process like fire and lightning using chakra, or else they used chakra to bind matter together to form great honking objects to attack someone with, like water and earth jutsu._

_Wind jutsu however, are a mix. It was possible to use chakra to bind air molecules together loosely to create huge gusts, but not terribly profitable as a whole as getting enough power to do physical damage is difficult. Where the wind jutsu come into their own is by using chakra to create blades. _

_Basically, that consists of pouring energy into the air, then splitting the air into two masses of gas. After that, you accelerate them into each other at high speed on a molecular level, usually while each mass draws in more air from the environment to sustain itself. Between the chakra, the kinetic energy and the friction, the air particles create a very thin, very high-energy patch of air. The air particles being pressed together between the two masses of air are so energetic they'll slice right through molecular bonds without slowing down. It's completely unblockable unless you know the proper chakra techniques. All you have to do is generate the effect in a given direction and you have an attack that flies through the air. There are exceptions and elaborations to these basics, but that's the groundwork._

_As if that wasn't difficult enough by itself, the Rasengan has dubious compatibility with wind jutsu. On the surface, they seem fine. Both use air as a medium, both use high-energy air particles to do their job. The Rasengan even looks like a whirlwind. But the Rasengan requires a single unified chaotic energy storm and a confining wall. Wind techniques by definition require at least basic organization and open space to act as an outlet for the techniques, as they could only be sustained with constant airflow._

_After god knows how many hours of practice, he finally got enough control over both source techniques to mix them. Judging by the effects observed this is my interpretation of how. Taking the Rasengan as a template, he then tried the first any way he could think of to throw wind effects into it._

_Eventually I believe he came across the idea to create two exactly similar Rasengan(s) over top of one another. By creating two, then aligning each stream of chakra so that it impacts its counterpart and generates a wind-blade effect, when it impacts the target it would release all of the knives inside of what it hits. By then modifying the shell so that on impact it reflexes upon the person it hits, you effectively trap the person within a hurricane in glass factory._

_The "shuriken" effect was in my observation, either an embellishment or a side effect. The degree of damage caused to Naruto by errant blades that escaped confinement suggests the latter. If that is the case, it is most likely caused by air molecules within the spiral's center expanding due to their energy level and forcing each other out of the jutsu. They form streams at a point of weakness and the spiraling causes them to form into blades, as the same hole in the underlying technique forms multiples holes in the shell at extremely high speed, much like the formation of volcanic island chains by lava pushing up through the earth's crust as it shifts over a single upward stream over time._

_The technique required another clone because except for the creation of the shell, it was another Rasengan over top of the first. That meant another two hands of work to generate the spiral and give it proper force. Let alone the additional control demands to hold it together and generate the blades._

_The fact that her he has forgone one of the clones is indicative that he is now able to perform a Rasengan single handedly (though that may not be strictly literal). This is mast certainly due to his considerable experience with this high maintenance jutsu._

I have to remind the reader that little of the technical information provided is courtesy of the original material, having been obtained from various fanfictions and Internet references. As such all conclusions are subject to reexamination and should be considered as a hypothesis at best. I beg you indulgence in this matter, as there seems to be little information to be had on the subject of the mechanics of the techniques discussed that has a reputable source, and even fewer that I am able to access.

Thank you for your attention and I hope this exercise has been enlightening and enjoyable.)

* * *

Sansora (revisited)- the designation of three puppets modified for autonomy. The first of their kind, they employ not only the construction techniques of Sunagakure, the nation most noted for its puppetry, but several other ninja village cultural technologies, integrated to maximize their combat potential in a specific area. Each unit has and internal chakra supply, control system, skeletal system and a transponder that reports location and unit damage. All other equipment is specialty specific. Programming is still at its most basic level, requireing a puppet to be guided through motions manually before it can perform them itself. Thus the puppets' capabilites are dependant upon its puppeteer.

SANSORA01(TSUKIKEN)- the first of the Sansora self-manipulating puppet units to be constructed. Designed for close combat against non-ninja combatants and taijutsu types, it has several features to this end. The cloaking device, a chakra obscuring technique anchored within an actual cloak affixed to the armor, was designed to obscure the movements of the puppet to make it harder to defend against. Its weapon, a two and a half meter double-edged sword with no hilt and a stabbing tip at each end, was created using forging techniques stolen from the Village Hidden in the Mist and was created to resemble their seven swordsman's blades. The blade was created I such an unusual shape both to prevent its use by any opponent able to bleed, but also to render every part of the blade as deadly as possible. The armor plating, a ceramic infused with a doton jutsu from the Village Hidden in the Stone for self repair, was meant to absorb any damage that may be done to vital internal components and wearing an opponent down. The extending mechanism in the limbs (a male/female screw and socket which takes up mot of the internal space in the arms and legs) was meant to give immediate bursts of power and increased reach for thrusting motions, as well as giving an element of unpredictability to the exact swing of the blade. When coupled with the obscuring aspect of the cloaking technique, even experienced swordsmen are easy prey to this unit's abilities. However, it should be noted that the designer had little knowledge of the intricacies of swordsmanship. As such, the puppet tends toward raw speed and power rater than skill.

A/N) Well, I hope you liked this chapter better than the last.

I wan to speak to those of you still reading and ask you to do something for me. **Review**. I need feedback to improve; I can only self evaluate so much. Give me something to work with. If I do a good job, tell me what you liked. If something was awkward or unpolished, it something brought you out of the story, tell me that too. I need any constructive criticism you can give me.

Not only do I want to know what you're thinking, I know from experience that the number of reviews in a fair informer of the draw of the story. Stalling at 20 after getting to there in the first two chapters is disheartening. I'm starting to think there is something wrong with my writing, especially considering some of the badly written stories that get dozens of reviews based on a cliché concept, with or without a slight twist, and a summery that explains most of the story in its two or three lines.

I realize that chapter three was a throw away. I put it in for reference, and seeing the lack response I would remove it if it weren't important. But it is, at least potentially.

But there was nothing wrong with the last chapter whatsoever. I know some of you are still reading. 256 people read chapter three so far, and 217 have read chapter four, with two and three reviews consecutively. Out of that many hits, getting only three reviews is fairly disheartening. While on the subject thank you to **LonewolfBloodstorm** for being the only person to review the last chapter.

I'm trying not to be too much of a nag, and I will continue to write regardless of whether I get reviews or not. But I could use the feedback, and would be grateful.

I'm sorry if it sounds like I'm bitching about everything, but I'm getting frustrated. I'd even welcome flames on this rant just to make it seem like I was getting reviews. I'm desperate.

Please review if you have any interest in this story. It will continue either way, but I could use the support.

As for the chapter, it was originally meant to be as one piece with the others of the arc.

The puppet opponents were an idea I had when I was trying to find away to justify the events of the next chapter, which required a fight sequence for a set up. The Sansora puppets were my first try at an OC in a Quasi-published work ever, which was great because besides their combat traits, they have no personalities. The personality of their creator, introduced later in the arc, was considerably more difficult, and thinking of his personality, appearance, speech patterns, and history were all sticking points to the refinement of both him and his puppets. The work took forever, but on the plus side the mental muscles I built up are helping tremendously in the planning of future chapters.

Tell me what you though about Sakura's combat style, as I improvised most of it based on what I'd do if I were a teenage girl with the strength of heavy machinery, so it probably needs refinement. Also, it was hell working on her trash talk.

The technical description of the Rasengan was a pet project I went through when the re-aired the find Tsunade arc on CN. I did it because it becomes vital that Naruto fully completes the Rasengan later in the story, so I had to have a working model of how it works in all of its stages in my head. I passed what I could figure out on to you so that we were on the same page when the time comes.

I'm changing the summery again. I think what I had before was either too intimidating, or too boring.

That's it. The end. No more. I had a lot to say directly to any of you who bothered to read all this and I did it. I'm sorry that the Author's note is so damn long.

necro-wulf


End file.
